N3 


National   Union   Executive  Committee. 
THE  :PROCEE:DI:N us 

CP    THE 

National  Union  Convention 

Held  at  Philadelphia,  August  14,  1866. 

—————»«»«»-* u  • 

Compiled  and  printed  by  order  of  the  following  resolution,   offered,  by  the  HON. 
SurERDr  JOHNSON,  of  Maryland,  and  passed  unanimously : 

Resoh'fd,  Tli.lt  a  full  and  correct  Copy  of  tc.e  Prcwfitulinflfsj  of  t.hriji   (lonvsntion  lx»  pro.. 

pared  by  E.  0.  PERSIN,  Secretary,  and  certified  by  the:~P*e3Klgiil,  'f< 
the  Resident  Executive  Committee  at  Washington. 


FIRST  DAY. 


INOV27  19. 


;.: 

ISUii,  pur- 


THB  NATIONAL  UMOX  CONVENTION  met  at  12  o'clock,  Tuesday;  August  14,  18fi6,  pur 
suant  to  call.  Hon.  A.  W.  RANDALL,  of  Wisconsin,  at  pyecisejj  12,  rose  and  said  . 

The  meeting  will  now  come  to  order.  For  the  purpose  of  th^  temporary  organization 
of  this  Convention,  I  propose  the  name  of  General  .Tony  A.  Drx.  of  New  York,  as 
chairman.  [Cheers.] 

The  proposition  was  received  with  unanimous  acclamation.  General  JOHN  A.  Dix 
oame  forward  and  said  : 

SPEECH    OF   GENERAL   DIX. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention  and  Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Whole  Union — [Applause:] 

I  return  you  my  sincere  thanks  for  the  honor  you  have  done  me  in  choosing  me  to 
preside  temporarily  over  your  deliberations,  I  regard  it  as  a  distinction  of  no  ordinary 
character,  not  only  on  account  of  the  high  personal  and  political  standing  of  the  gentle 
men  who  compose  this  Convention,  but  because  it  is  a  Convention  of  the  people  of  all 
the  States  of  this  Union  [cheers,]  and  because  we  cannot  doubt  that,  if  its  proceedings 
are  couducted  with  harmony  and  good  judgment,  it  will  lead  to  the  most  important 
results .  It  may  be.  truly  said  tkat  no  body  of  men  has  met  on  this  continent  under 
circumstances  so  momentous  and  so  delicate  since  tlii-  year  17-7 — tae  year  when  our 
ancestors  assembled  in  this  city  to  frame  a  better  gnVmianjut  for  the  States  which 
were  parties  to  the  old  Confederation — a  governm  <  ua>  been  confirmed  and 
made  more  enduring,  te  we  trust,  %y-the  fearful  trl  . 'lioh  Ithab  encoun 
tered  and  overcome.  The  Constitution  which  they  came  hory  to  pl?.u  and  construct,  we 
are  here  to  vindicate  r.v.d  restore.  [Ch •.•<•:••<._]  We  are  here  to  assert  th-  supremacy  of  rep 
resentative  government  over  all  who  are  within  the  confines  of  the  Union a  govern 

meat  which  cannot,  without  a  violation  r.f  its  fundamental  principle,  be  extended  over 
any  but.tucwo  who  are  represented  in  it  [loud  applause] — over  those  who,  by  virtue  of 
that  representation,  are  entitled  to  a  voice  in  the  administration  of  the  public  affairs. 
[Renewed  applause.]  It  was  such  a  Government  our  fathers  framed  and  put  in  opera 
tion.  It  is  the  Government  which  w-^  are  bound  by  every  consideration  of  fidelity, 
justice,  and  good  faith  to  defend  and  maintain.  [Cheers  ] 

ion.  we  are  not  living  under  such  a  Government.  [Applause  and  cries  of 
true."]  Thirty-six  States  have  for  months  been  governed  by  twenty-five — 
eleven  S£s*e=  have  b'.n-n  wholly  without  representation  in  the  legislative  b*dy  of  the 
nation;  theS^umerical  proportion  of  the  re^rcfented  States  to  the  unrepresented  IMS 
just  been  chax^ed  by  the  admissior.  of  the  delegates  froiL  Tennessee — a  unit  taken 
from  the  smailer*nd  added  to  the  larger  number.  Ten  States  :ire  btiU  denied  the 
representation  in  Congress  to  which  they  arc  yntitU-d  unJir  thn  Constitution.  His 
this  wrong  which  we  fhyye  come  here  to  protest  against,  and,  AS  fcr  aa  lie?  in  UB,  to 
redress.  [Great  applaus^O  When  the  Present  of  the  United  Plates  declared  that 

M93162 


resistance  id  tie  authority  of  the  Union  was  over,  all  the  States  had  a  right* 
to  "be  represented  in  the  national  legislature.  [Loud  cheering.]  They  had  the  right 
under  the  Constitution.  Tht-y  had  the  right  under  resolutions  passed  by  both  Houses- 
ot  Congress  iit  IStil.  -Thcsfe  resolutions  were  not  concurrent,  but  they  were  substan 
tially  identical.  Moreover,  the  States  were  entitled  to  be  so  represented  on  other 
grounds  of  .fairness  and  good  faith.  The  President,  not  in  pursuance  of  any  Constitu 
tional  power,  had  called  on  the  confederated  States  to  accept  certain  conditions  for 
their  admission  to  the  exercise  of  their  legitimate  functions  as  members  of  the  Union — 
the  ratification  of  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution  abolishing  slavery  and  the  repu 
diation  of  the  debts  contracted  to  overthrow  the  Government.  These  conditions  were 
met  and  accepted.  The  exaction  of  new  conditions  is  unjust,  a  violatibn  of  the  faith, 
of  the  Government,  subversive  of  the  principles  of  our  political  system,  and  dangerous 
to  the  public  prosperity  and  peace.  [Applause.]  Each  House  of  Congress  may,  as 
the  judge  of  the  qualifications  of  its  own  members,  reject  individuals  tor  just  cause  ; 
but  the  two  bodies,  acting  conjointly,  cannot  exclude  entire  delegations  without  an- 
unwarrantable  assumption  of  power.  [Applause.]  Congress  has  not  only  done  this  ; 
it  has  gone  farther.  It  has  incorporated  new  conditions  into  amendments. to  the  Con 
stitution,  and  submitted  them  for  the  ratification  of  the  States.  There  is  no  probability 
that  these  amendments  will  be  ratified  by  three-fourths  of  the  States.  To  insist  on- 
the  conditions  they  contain  is  to  prolong  indefinitely  the  exclusion  of  more  than  one- 
fourth  of  the  statois  from  reprceontntkui  in  Congress.  [Applause.]  Is  this  the  Govern 
ment  our  fathers  fought  to  establish?  [Cries  of  "No,  no!';]  Is  this  the  Union  we 
have  been  fighting  to  preserve  ?  ["No,  no!"]  The  President  has  done  all  in  his- 
power  to  correct  this  wrong  [applause,]  and, to  restore  the  legislative  body  to  its  full 
proportions,  by  giving  all  the  members  of  the  Union  their  proper  share  in  the  Public 
Councils.  [Cheers.]  Legislation  without  representation  is  an  anomaly  under  our 
political  system.  Under  any  other  form  of  government  it  would  be  but  another  name- 
for  usurpation  and  misrule.  And  the  President  is  entitled  to  the  thanks  of  the  country 
for  his  firmness  in  opposing  a  policy  =o  illiberal,  so  demoralizing,  and  so  directly  at 
war  with  every  principle  of  our  political  organization. 

I  have  referred  to  the  condition  of  the  legislative  body  under  the  aspects  of  right  on 
the  one  hand  and  duty  on  the  other — the  right  of  the  States  to  be  represented  a.ud  the 
duty  of  Congress  to  receive  their  representatives.  On  the  score  of  policy,  nothing 
can  be  more  unwise  than  to  prolong  the  present  anomalous  relation  of  the  States  to- 
each  other.  It  is  calculated  to  embitter  on  both  sides  animosities  and  resentments 
which  it  is  our  duty,  by  all  just  measures,  to  sooth  and  heal.  It  disturbs  the  action 
ot  the  Government;  it  deranges  the  application  of  capital  and  labor  ;  it  impedes  the  de 
velopment  of  our  resources  ;  it  impairs  our  credit  and  our  good  name  at  home  and 
abroad  ;  and  it  retards  the  march  of  the  country  to  prosperity  and  power. 

Gentlemen,  I  trust  that  in  our  deliberations  here  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  one 
main  purpose — that  of  redressing  the  wrong  to  which  I  have  referred.  There  is  much 
in  the  administration  of  the  Government  which  needs  amendment — some  things  to  be 
done,  and  others  to  be  undone.  There  are  commercial  and  financial  reforms  which 
are  indispensable  to  the  public  welfare.  But  we  shall  not  have  the  power  to  carry  them 
oat  until  \ve  change  the  political  complexion  of  Congress.  [Enthusiastic  and  long 
continued  applause.]  This,  should  be  our  first,  our  immediate  aim.  It  is  in  the 
Congressional  districts  that  the  vital  contest  is  to  take  place.  The  control  of  one 
branch  of  Congress,  will  'enable  us  to  prevent  partial,  unjust,  and  pernicious  legis 
lation.  The  control'  of  both  Houses,  with  the  power  to  introduce  and  carry  out  salutary 
Tbforms,  to  ••  bring  the  Government  hack,"  in  the  language  of  Jefferson,  "to  the  re 
publican  taefc.:>  will  come  later.  [Cheers.]  But,  with  wis«,  harmonious,  and  ju 
dicious  action  on  our  part,  and  on  the  part  of  those  we  represent,  this  need  not  be  long- 
delayed.  [Applause.]  I  believe  that  public  opinion  is  right,  and  that  it  is  only  neces 
sary*  to  present  to  the  people  el-?nr]y  the  issues  between  us  and  the  uHraisrn  which* 
cciitrols  th'?  action  of  Congress.  And,  gentlemen,  is  not  the  object  for  which  we 
are  contending  a  consummation  worthy  of  our  highest  and  mo?t  devoted  efforts  9— 
to  brin.2-  back  the  Republic,  purified  and  strengthened  by  the  fiery  ordeal  through, 
which  it  has  passed  to  its  ancient  prosperity  and  power  [applause] — to  present  to  the 
world  ai:,  i'rXrtJsuVle  worthy  of  imitation,  not  a  mere  Utopian  vision  of  a  goo-I  Govern 
ment,  but  the  grand  old  reality  of  the  letter  times  [applause]  with  which  the  memory 
of  our  fathers,  the  jrecolleetions  of  the  past,  and  all  our  hcpos  of  the  lature,  are  in 
separably  entwined  [cheers] — one  count  fa,  one  >uo,  one  Urtio-i.  of  e,quru  State*  •  [Long 
continued  applause.] 

The  remark?,  of  General  Dix  were  received  with  great  enthusiasm.  He. was  fre 
quently  interrupted  by  cheers.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  remarks  the  cheering  was 
tremendous  and  long  continued. 

General  Dix  then  said :  It  te  proposed  to  open  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention  with- 


prayer.     He  thoti  introduced  Rev.  R.  N.  McDonald,  who  made  the  following  prayer,  the 
audience  reverently  standing  : 


PRAYEK. 

0  Lord,  high  and  mighty  Ruler  of  the  Universe,  we,  Thy  dependent  and  needy  crea 
tures,  humbly  draw  near  to  Thee  in  the  name  of  Thy  beloved  Sou,  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  Have  mercy  on  us  according  to  Thy  loving  kindness  ;  accord 
ing  to  the  multitude  of  Thy  tender  mercies  blot  out  our  transgression*.  We  bless  Thy 
most  high  and  holy  name  for  the  innumerable  mercies  Thou  hast  in  Thy  loving  kind- 
'  ness  bestowed  on  us  as  a  Christian  people.  We  bless  Thee  for  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  here  of  religious  and  civil  liberty,  and  especially,  O  Lord,  do  we  praise 
Thee  for  the  interposition  of  Thy  power  in  our  behalf  in  the  late  troubles  which  have 
been  permitted  to  become  upon  our  beloved  country.  We  bless  Thee  that  Thou  hast 
brought  to  an  end  the  fearful  struggle  in  which  the  nation  hs-  been  engaged,  and  that 
the  Union  has  been  preserved.  Verily  Thou  art  a  God  that  doeth  wonders.  Thou 
canst  make  the  wrath  of  man  praise  Thee,  and  Thou  canst  restrain  the  power  thereof. 
We  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  put  it  in  the  hearts  of  Thy  servants  here  present  to- 
assemble  from  various  parts  of  our  land  to  consult  for  the  public  good  :  and  now,  0 
Most  Mighty  and  Most  Holy,  let  Thy  blessing  rest  upon  this  Convention.  May  Thy 
servants  meet  together  as  brothers  and  friends.  Help  them  to  lay  aside  all  selfish 
motives,  all  unworthy  personal  and  sectional  considerations  ;  enlighten  their  counsels  ; 
guide  them  in  all  their  deliberations,  so  that  the  Union  of  the  States  may  be  fully 
restored  and  may  be  rendered  perpetual.  Restore  their  prosperity  as  at  the  IJrst.  ami 
their  peace  and  fraternity  as  at  the  beginning.  Bless  the  country  in  all  its  interests  ; 
in  its  agriculture,  in  its  commerce,  and  in  the  mechanical  arts  :  in  its  churches,  and 
in  its  religious  and  benevolent  institutions.  Avert  from  us,  we  beseech  Thee,  the 
pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness,  and  the  destruction  that  wasteth  at  noon-tide,  and 
all  the  judgments  which  our  sins  deserve.  And,  O  most  merciful  God.  our  Heavenly 
Father,  we  beseech  Thee  to  manifest  Thine  especial  favor  upon  Thy  servant,  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  May  his  health  and  life  be  precious  in  Thy  bight. 
Make  him  a  great  and  lasting  blessing  to  the  country  over  which,  in  Thy  wonderful. 
and  adorable  providence,  he  has  been  called  to  bear  rule.  Bless  his  constitutional 
advisers;  gird  him  with  wisdom  and  strength  in  every  emergency.  We  pray,  0 
Lord,  that  he  may  be  a  just  ruler  in  the  fear  of  God,  even  as  the  light  of  the  morning 
when  the  sun  ariseth  —  a  morning  without  cloads  —  and  as  the  tender  grass  springing 
from  the  earth  after  rain  :  and  especially.  0  Lord,  wilt  Thou  crown  the  efforts  of  Thy 
servant  in  maintaining  th«  Union  of  these  States  inviolate  under  the  Constitution 
established  by  our  fathers.  Bless  all  nations  and  their  rulers.  Let  the  Gospel  be 
preached  abroad.  Thy  kingdom  come  everywhere.  Let  oppression  disappear  among 
men.  Let  righteousness  and  peace  reign  over  the  whole  earth.  These  arft  our  peti 
tions;  these  are  our  requests  :  O  Lord,  hear;  O  Lord,  forgive;  0  Lord,  hearken  and 
aid  for  his  sake,  our  Great  Redeemer,  who  hath  taught  us  to  say,  Our  Father  who  art 
in  Heaven,  hallowed  be  Thy  name  :  Thy  kingdom  come  ;  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as 
it  is  in  Heaven.  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread,  and  forgive  us  our  trespasses  as  we 
forgive  those-  that  trespass  ag.-iinst  us.  Lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  u;? 
from  evil  ;  for  Thine  is  the  kingdom,  the  power,  and  glory,  forever.  Araen. 

During  the  delivery  of  the  prayer  the  word  amen  was  utter,-  I  frerfi  "-itlv,  with  deep 
reverence,  n\  various  parts  of  the  house. 

BESOLUTIO>:    TO    APPOINT    A    CuMMl'i'lSii   OS    CREr«EM:\I.S. 

GENRSVL  STKEDMAIT.  I  have  a  resolution  to  offer  providing  for  the  appointment  of  a 
comraittoe  on  the  credential?  of  delegates  to  this  Convention. 


Hon.  A.  W.  UAXDALL.  Before  that  resolution  i?  put  I  beg  leav-;  to  propose  the  follow 
ing  appointments  of  temporary  secretaries  to  the  Coirver.tion  :  K.  O.  PEKEIX,  of  New 
Vork;  A.  R.  POTTS,  of  Pennsylvania;  Jouv  F.  Co\-r,«,  of  District  of  Columbia  ;  JAMBS  R. 

,  of  District  of  Columbia. 
Cu&inwN.     The  rail  for  this  Convention  will  now  be  read  : 


TUS  CALL  FOB  THT-:  coNVEtfTK.fr. 


A  N'AiM-sx!.  I'M  >r.  CoarvEXTiov.  of  at  lenst  two  delegates  from  each  Congressional 
District  of  all  tt\e  State-,  two  from  each  Territory,  two  from  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  four  delegate  at  large  from  eack  State,  wiii  l>e  hold  at  the  oity  of  Philadelphia  on 
the  second  Tuesday  ("vL4thj  of  August  next. 

Such  delegates  will  1>e  a:o*.?n  by  the  electors  of  tlie  several  States  who  sustain  the 


Administration  in  maintaining  unbroken  the  Union  of  the  States  under  the  Constitir- 
tion  which  our  i'athers  established .,  and  who  agree  in  the   following  propositions,  viz  :; 

The  Union  of  the  States  is,  in  every  case,  indissoluble,  and  is  perpetual  ;  and  .the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  laws  passed  by  Congress  in  pursuance 
thereof,  supreme>  and  constant,  and  iiniversal  in  their  obligation ; 

The  rights,  the  dignity,  and  the  equality  of  the  StaUs  in  the  Union,  including  the 
right  of  representation  in  Congress,  are  solemnly  guaranteed  by  that  Constitution,  to 
save  which  from  overthrow  so  much  blood  and  treasure  were  expended  in  the  late 
civil  war ; 

There  is  no  right,  anywhere,  to  dissolve  the  Union,  or  to  separate  States  from  the 
Union,  either  by  voluntary  withdrawal,  by  force  of  arms,  or  by  Congressional  action ; 
neither  by  the  secession  of  the  States,  nor  by  the  exclusion  of  their  loyal  and  qualified 
representatives,  nor  by  the  National  Government  in  any  other  form  ; 

Slavery  is  abolished,  and  neither  can,  nor  ought  to  be  re-established  in  any  State  or 
Territory  within  our  jurisdiction  ; 

Each  State  has  the  undoubted  right  to  prescribe  the  qualifications  of  its  own 
electors,  and  no  external  power  rightfully  can,  or  ought  to,  dictate,  control,  or  influ 
ence  the  free  and  voluntary  action  of  the  States  in  the  exercise  of  that  right  ; 

The  maintenance  inviolate  of  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  especially  of  the  right  of 
each  State  to  order  and  control  its  own  domestic  concerns,  according  to  its  own  judg 
ment  exclusively,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  is  essential  to- 
that  balance  of  power  on  which  the  perfection  and  endurance  of  our  political  fabric  de 
pend,  ani  the  overthrow  of  that  system  by  the  usurpation  and  centralization  of  power 
in  Congress  would  be  a  revolution,  dangerous  to  republican  government  and  destruc 
tive  of  liberty. 

Each  House  of  Congress  is  made,  by  the  Constitution,  the  sole  judge  of  the  elections, 
returns,  and  qualifications  of  its  members  ;  but  the  exclusion  of  loyal  Senators  and 
Representatives,  properly  chosen  and  qualified  under  the  Constitution  and  laws,  is  un 
just  and  revolutionary. 

Every  patriot  should  frown  upon  all  those  acts  and  proceedings  everywhere,  which 
can  serve  no  other  purpose  than  to  rekindle  the  animosities  of  war,  and  the  effect  ot 
which  upon  oar  moral,  social,  and  material  interests  at  home,  aud  upon  our  standing 
abroad,  differing  only  in  degree,  is  injurious  like  war  itself. 

The  purpose  of  the  war  having  been  to  preserve  the  Union  and  Constitution  by  put 
ting  down  the  rebellion,  and  the  rebellion  having  been  suppressed,  all  resistance  to  the 
authority  of  the  General  Government  being  at  an  end,  and  the  war  having  ceased,  war 
measures  should  also  cease,  aud  should  be  followed  by  measures  of  peaceful  adminis 
tration,  -?o  that  union,  harmony,  and  concord  may  be  encouraged,  and  industry,  com 
merce,  and  the  arts  of  peace  revived  and  promoted ;  and  the  early  restoration  of  all  the 
States  to  the  exercise  of  their  constitutional  powers  in  the  National  Government  is  in 
dispensably  necessary  to  the  strength  and  the  defence  of  the  Republic,  and  te  the 
maintenance  of  the  public  credit. 

All  such  electors  in  the  thirty-six  States  and  nine  Territories  of  the  United  States, 
and  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  who,  in  a  spirit  of  patriotism  and  love  for  the  Union, 
can  rise  above  personal  and  sectional  considerations,  and  who  desire  to  see  a  truly 
National  Union  Convention,  which  shall  represent  all  the  States  and  Territories  of  the 
Union,  assemble,  as  friends  and  brothers,  under  the  national  fiag,  to  hold  counsel 
together  upon  the  state  of  the  Union,  and  to  take  measures  to  avert  possible  danger 
from  the  same,  are  specially  requested  to  take  pirt  in  the  choice  of  such  delegate.-. 

But  no  dekgate  will  take  a  seat  in  such  Convention  who  does  not  loyally  accept  the 
national  situation  and  cordially  endorse  the  principles  above  set  forth,  and  who  is  not 
attached,  in  true  allegvuu-o,  to  the  Constitution,  the  Union,  and  the, Government  of- 
the  United  States. 

WAMHINUTOX,  June  25,  "J8GC. 

A.   W.   RANDALL,   President. 
J.  R.  DUOLITTLE, 
0.  H.  BROWNING, 
EDGAR  COWAN, 
CHARLES  KNAP, 
SAMUEL  FOWLER, 
Executive   Coinnittcc  National  Union  C'iub. 

"We  recommend  the  ho  Wing  of  the  above  Convention,  and  endorse  the  call  therefor, 

DANIEL  S.  NORTON,     "' 
.7.  W.  NESM1TH, 
JAMES  DIXON, 
T.  A.  HENDRK'KS, 


ORDER   OF   BUSINESS. 

Hon.  J.  R.  DOOLITTLE. — With  the  leave  of  the  gentleman  from  Ohio,  a-ud  before  the 
motion  is  put  on  his  resolution  to  appoint  a  committee  on  credentials,  I  ask  leave  to- 
submit  two  resolutions,  which  have  reference  to  the  order  of  business  in  this  Conven 
tion.  The  first  resolution  which  I  offer,  with  his  leave,  will  be  this  : 

Resolved,  That,  until  otherwise  ordered,  the  general  rules  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  of  the  United  States,  so  far  as  applicable,  govern  the  proceedings  of  this  Con 
vention,  and,  until  otherwise  ordered,  in  case  any  question  shall  arise  to  be  determined 
by  a  division,  or  by  the  ayes  and  noes,  the  Secretary  shall  call  the  roll  of  all  the 
States  and  Territories  of  the  United  States  and  the  District  of  Columbia.  Each  State, 
as  called,  shall  be  entitled  to  cast  double  the  number  of  votes  t«  which  it  is  entitled  in' 
the  electoral  college,  as  its  delegation  shall  direct ;  and  each  Territory,  and  also  the- 
District  of  Columbia,  shall  be  entitled  to  cast  two  votes,  as  their  several  delegations 
shall  direct. 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted. 

Hon.  J.  R.  DOOLITTLE. — I  desire  also  to  .submit  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  all  resolutions  and  propositions  not  relating  to  the  organization  of  the' 
Convention,  be  referred  by  the  Chair  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  hereafter  to  be 
appointed,  without  debate  ;  and  that  all  resolutions,  propositions,  and  questions  rela 
ting  to  the  right  or  claim  of  any  person  to  a  seat  in  the  Convention,  be  referred  by 
the  Chair  to  the  Committee  on  Credentials,  hereafter  to  be  appointed,  without  debate; 
and  that  until  the  appointment  of  such  committee  they  do  lie  upon  the  table,  without 
debate. 

This  resolution  was  unanimously  agreed  to. 

The  Secretary  then  read  the  resolution  offered  by  General  Steedman,  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  thirteen  be  appointed  by  the  Chair  as  a  committee  OD 
credentials. 

This  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted. 

PERMANENT   ORGANIZATION. 

Hon.  MONTGOMERY  BLAIR. — I  wish  to  offer  the  following  resolution,  providing  for  the 
permanent  organization  of  this  Convention  : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  one  from  each  State  be  appointed  by  the  Chair  to  re 
port  officers  lor  the  permanent  organization  of  the  Convention. 

Hon.  THOMAS  B.  FLORENCE. — It  strikes  me,  sir,  inasmuch  as  there  is  great  misappre 
hension  as  to  the  character  of  the  delegations  to  this  body,  that  the  Secretary  be- 
requested  to  read  the  circular  issued  over  the  signature  of  Judge  Blair  and  others, 
known  as  the  "Blair-Campbell  Circular,"  inviting  the  cooperation  of  Democrats,  as 
such,  in  this  body.  It  seems  to  me  that  if  there  was  any  significance  in  reading  the 
original  call,  the  supplementary  call  is  quite  as  important  to  remove  any  misappre 
hension  that  may  occur  as  to  the  position  we  may  occupy.  I  suggest  that  it  be  read. 

THE  CHAIRMAN. — If  there  is  no  objection,  it  will  be  read. 

It  was  then  read,  as  follows : 

THE   CONGRESSIONAL    ADDRESS. 

Tro  tlie  People  of  the   United  States  : 

Dangers  threaten.  The  Constitution — the  citadel  of  our  liberties — is  directly  assailed. 
The  future  is  dark,  unless  the  people  will  come  to  the  rescue. 

In  this  hour  of  peril  National  Union  should  be  the  watchword  of  every  true  man. 

As  essential  to  National  Union,  we  must  maintain  unimpaired  the  rights,  the  dig 
nity,  and  the  equality  of  the  States,  including  the  right  of  representation  in  Congress, 
and  the  exclusive  right  of  each  State  to  control  its  own  domestic  concerns,  subject  only 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

After  a  uniform  construction  of  the  Constitution  for  more  than  lialf  a  century,  the 
assumption  of  new  and  arbitrary  powers  in  the  Federal  Government  is  subversive  of 
our  systetu  and  destructive  of  liberty. 

A  free  interchange  of  opinion  and  kind  feeling  between  the  citizen?  o:'  all  the  States 
is  necessary  to  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union.  At  present  eleren  States  are  excluded 
from  the  National  Council.  Tor  seven  long  mouths  the  present  Congr..'=><  has  persist 
ently  denied  any  right  of  representation  to  the  people  of  the^c  States.  Laws,  affecting 
their  highest  and  dearest  interests,  have  been  passed  without  their  consent,  and  in 
disregard  of  the  fundamental  principle  of  free  Government.  This  denial  of  representa 
tion  has  be-.'n  made  to  all  t>ie  members  from  a  State,  although  the  State,  i«  the  language 


6 

of  the  President,  "presents  itself,  not  only  in  an  attitude  of  loyalty  and  harmony,  but  in 
the  persons  of  representatives  whose  loyalty  cannot  be  questioned  under  any  existing 
constitutional  or  legal  test."  The  representatives  of  nearly  one-third  of  the  States 
have  not  been  consulted  with  reference  to  the  great  questions  of  the  day.  There  has 
been  no  nationality  surrounding  the  present  Congress.  There  has  been  no  intercourse 
between  the  representatives  of  the  two  sections,  producing  mutual  confidence  and 
respect.  In  the  language  of  the  distinguished  Lieutenant-General,  "It  is  to  be 
regretted  that,  at  this  time,  there  cannot  be  a  greater  commingling  between  the 
citizens  of  the  two  sections,  and  particularly  those  entrusted  with  the  law-making 
power."  This  state  of  things  should  be  removed  at  once  and  forever. 

Therefore,  to  preserve  the  National  Union,  to  vindicate  the  supremacy  of  our  admi 
rable  Constitution,  to  guard  the  States  from  covert  attempts  to  deprive  them  of  their 
true  position  in  the  Union,  and  bring  together  those  who  are  unnaturall}'  severed,  and 
for  these  great  national  purposes  only,  we  cordially  approve  the  call  for  a  National 
Union  Convention,  to  be  held  at  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  on  the  second  Tuesday  ("14th) 
of  August  next,  and  endorse  the  principles  therein  set  forth. 

We,  therefore,  respectfully,  but  earnestly,  urge  upon  our  fellow-citizens  in  each 
State,  and  Territory,  and  Congressional  District  of  the  United  States,  in  the  interest  of 
Union  and  in  a  spirit  of  harmony,  and  with  direct  reference  to  the  principles  contained 
in  said  call,  to  act  promptly  in  the  selection  of  wise,  moderate,  and  conservative  men 
to  represent  them  in  said"  Convention,  to  the  end  that  all  States  shall  at  once  be 
restored  to  their  practical  relations  to  the  Union,  the  Constitution  maintained,  and 
peace  bless  the  whole  country. 

W.  E.  Niblack,  Reverdy  Johnson, 

Anthony  Thornton.  Thomas  A.  Hendricka, 

Michael  C.  Kerr,  Wm.  Wright, 

Q-.  S,  Shanklm,  James  Ghithri**, 

Grarrett  Davis,  J.  A.  McDougall, 

H.  Grider,  Wm.  Radford, 

Thomas  E.  Noell,  S.  S.  Marshall, 

Sam'l  J.  Randall,  Myer  Strouse, 

Lewis  W.  Ross,  Chas.  Sitgreaves, 

Stephen  Tabor,  S.  E.  Ancona, 

J.  M.  Humphreys,  E.  N.  Hubbell, 

John  Hogau,  B.  C.  Ritter, 

B.  M,  Boyer,  A.  Harding, 

Tennis  G-.  Bergen,  A.  J.  Grlossbrenner, 

Chas.  Goodyear,  E.  R.  V.  Wright, 

Chas.  H.  Winfi'eld,  A.  J.  Rogers, 

A.  II.  Coffroth,  H.  McCullough, 

Lovell  H.  Rousseau,  F.  C.  Le  Blond, 

Philip  Johnson,  W.  E.  Finck, 

Chas.  A.  Eldridge,  L.  S.  Trimble. 

John  L.  Dawson, 
-  WASHINGTON,  July  4,  18H6. 

Col.  THOMAS  B.  FLORENCE.  I  have  no  objection  to  that,  but  it  is  not  the  one  I  referred 
to.  I  mean  the  circular  issued  over  the  signatures  of  Governor  Randall  and  Judge 
Blair. 

THE  CHAIRMAN.     It  is  not  in  the  possession  of  the  Secretary. 

Mr.  B'LORENCK,  (handing  a  paper  to  tho  Secretary,  j  That  is  the  paper  to  which  I 
allude.  That  is  a  very  patriotic  paper,  and  there  can  be  no  earthly  objection  to  road- 
ing  it  ;  and  I  ask.  that  after  reading  the  other,  the  Secretary  may  also  read  this  which  I 
have  presented.  A  paper  which  has  met  the  response  of  i?o  many  persons  here,  and 
has  met  with  such  universal  approval,  cannot  do  any  harm  to  this  Convention. 
Tb.3  circular  pre«nnted  by  Mr.  Florence  was  then  read  by  the  Secretary  as  follows  : 


CISCULA.H. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  July  10,  186ti. 

Your  immediate  and  earnest  attention  Ls  invited  to  the  annexed  call  for  a  National 
Convention,  issued  by  the  Nat'onal  Union  Executive  Committee,  and  the  accompanying 
endorsement  thereof  by  prominent  gentlemen  who  are  well  known  to  the  country. 

The  undersigned  have  been  duly  appointed  a  committee  to  facilitate  and  expedite, 
by  correspondence  and  otherwise,  such  action  as  may  seem  necessary  to  bring  together 
at  Philadelphia  a  convention  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  nation,  without  regard  to  their 
party  antecedents,  who  favor,  generally,  tho  restoration  policy  President  Johnson 
has  advocated  against  the  dangerous  course  pursued  by  the  majority  of  Congress. 


;  7 

We  deem  it  proper  to  suggest  that  it  is  desirable  that  there  be  seat  from  each  State 
four  delegates  at  large  and  two  from  each  Congressional  district  who  favor  the  prin 
ciples  set  forth  in  the  call,  to  be  taken  from  the  supporters  of  Lincoln  and  Johnson  in 
18G4,  and  a  like  number  from  their  opponents.  Also,  four  delegates  from  each  Terri-s 
tory,  and  feur  from  the  District  of  Columbia.  In  those.  States  whereof  a  portion  of  the 
people  were  lately  in  rebellion,  a  corresponding  number  of  delegates  may  be  chosen  by 
the  people  generally,  who  accept  the  principles  stated  in  the  call.  It  is  not  intended", 
however,  that  these  suggestions  shall  interfere  with  any  arrangement?  already  made 
for  the  selection  of  delegates.  It  is  left  entirely  to  the  political  organizations  in  the 
different  States  and  districts  that  occur  in  the  principles  of  the  call  to  decide  whether 
they  will  choose  their  delegates  by  joint  or  separate  meeting*,  or  by  their  executive 
committees. 

We  have  been  authorized  to  appoint  temporary  executive  committees  in  the  States 
where  the  same  are  presumed  to  be  necessary.  You  are,  therefore,  requested  to  act  as 
such  committee,  and  to  adopt  immediate  measures  to  secure  a  full  delegation  to  the 
proposed  Convention,  not  interfering,  however,  with  the  action  which  existing  organi 
zations  may  have  taken  for  the  same  object.  Your  action  will  be  such  as  to  aid  such 
movements  —  the  purpose  of  your  appointment  being  to  provide  for  the  selection  of 
delegates  if  no  adequate  preliminary  arrangements  have  yet  been  made. 

The  day  fixed  for  the  National  Convention  is  near,  and  we  desire  to  impress  on  you 
and  all  friends  of  this  cause,  that  it  is  of  the  first  importance  that  District  or  State 
Conventions,  or  State  Executive  Committees,  immediately  appoint  delegates.  And  it 
is  particularly  requested  that  a  list  of  delegates  and  committees  appointed  be  speedily 
forwarded  to  the  Chairman  of  this  Committee. 

In  conclusion,  we  have  to  add  that  the  paramount  object  of  this  movement  is  to  bring. 
into  a  great  National  Conference  from  all  parts  of  our  distracted  country  wise  and  pa 
triotic  men,  who  may  devise  a  plan  of  political  action  calculated  to  restore  national 
unity,  fraternity,  and  harmony,  and  secure  to  an  afflicted  people  that  which  is  so  sin 
cerely  desired  by  all  good  men  —  the  practical  blessings  of  an  enduring  -peace. 

ALEX,  wr  RANDALL, 
LEWIS  D.  CAMPBELL, 
MONTGOMERY  BLAIR, 

The  Secretary  then  read  the  appointments  male  on  the  Committees  on  Credentials 
and  on  Organization.  They  are  as  follows  : 

COMMITTEE   ON   CREDENTIALS. 

JAMES  B.  STEEDMAN,  Ohio,  Chairman  ;  N.  D.  Colernan,  Lonkiana  ;  Thomas  Hoyne, 
Illinois  ;  Charles  P.  Daly,  New  York;  David  Kilgore,  Indiana;  J.  B.  Campbell,  South 
Carolina  ;  A.  Hyatt  Smith,  Wisconsin  ;  Geo.  M.  I*es,  Connecticut  ;  B.  II.  Epperson, 
Texas  ;  E.  W.  Pierce,  Massachusetts  ;  Ashbel  Green,  New  Jersey  ;  James  MoFeiren, 
Missouri  ;  John  R.  Franklin,  Maryland. 

COMMITTEE   ON   ORGANISATION 

Hon.  MONTGOMERY  BLAIH,  Maryland,  Chairman  ;  Nathaniel  S.  Little,  Maine  ;  E.  A.  Hib 
"bard,  New  Hampshire  ;  J.  J.  Peavitt,  Vermont  ;  E.  A.  Alger,  Massachusetts  ;  A.  Ballon, 
Rhode  Island  ;  Loren  P.  Waldo,  Connecticut  ;  Hon.  W.  II.  Ludlow,  New  York;  Hon. 
Joel  Parker,  New  Jersey  ;  Hon.  II.  W.  Tracy,  Pennsylvania  ;  Joseph  M.  Barr,  Dela 
ware  ;  Thomas  S.  Flonrnoy,  Virginia  ;  John  J.  Thompson,  West  Virginia  ;  W.  A. 
Wright,  North  Carolina  ;  T.  N.  Dawkins,  South  Carolina  ;  Porter  Ingram,  Florida  ; 
James  B.  Dawkins,  Georgia  ,  Hon.  J.  F.  Bailey,  Mississippi  ;  J.  G.  Parham,  Louisiana; 
J.  B.  Luce,  Arkansas;  B.  H.  ^Epperson,  Texas;  Jos.  Ramsay,  Tennessee;  Alexander 
White,  Alabama  ;  Hon.  E.  A.  Graves,  Kentucky;  George  Fries,  Ohio;  Colonel  D.  G. 
Rose,  Indiana  ;  Hon.  Thomas  J.  Turner,  Illinois  ;  General  A.  A.  Stephens,  Michigan  ;. 
Robert  Wilson,  Missouri;  H.  M.  Rice,  Minnesota;  L.  B.  Vilas,  Wisconsin;  J.  H.  Mur- 
pky,  Iowa  :  Nicholas  Smith,  Kansas  ;  Hon.  Samuel  Purely,  California  ;  G.  M.  Be<?ber 
Nevada  ;  W.  H.  Farrar.  0/egon  ;  Owen  Thorn,  District  of  Columbia  ;  --  , 
4rizo»a  :  A.  J.  Faulk,  Dakota  ;  Thomas  W.  Betts,  IJaho  ,  --  ,  Montana  ; 
fiou.  J.  Sterling  Morton,  Nebraska  :  Geo.  P.  Este,  New  Mexico  :  --  .  ,  Utah  ; 

--  •  -  ,  Colorado  ;  3!  wood  Evans,  Washington  Territory. 

THBV  CHAIRMAN.  The  li«,t  of  the  members  of  this  Committee  has  been  read  by 
States.  X 

It  is  understood  that  Mr.  Blair,  of  Maryland,  is  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Or 
ganization.  N^ 

ADJOUKIIMEXT. 


Eon.  MosTooirER*  BLAIR.     I  move  that  this  Convention  now  adjourn  till  to-morrow  at. 
twelve  o'clock. 
The  Convention  thereupon  was  adjourned. 


SECOND  DAY. 

The  Convention  met  at  12  o'clock  M.,  pursuant  to  adjournment. 
THE  CHAIRMAN.     The   Convention  will  come  to  order,   and  gentlemen  will   please 
'    take  their  seats. 

The  Rev.  John  P.  Halt  z  Luge  r,  of  Greenville,  Tennessee,  then  offered  the  opening 
prayer : 

THE    PRATER. 

Almighty  God.  our  Heavenly  Father,  "Thou  hast  been  our  dwelling  place  in  all 
generations,  before  ever  Thou  hadst  formed  the  earth  and  the  world,  even  from  ever 
lasting  to  everlasting.  Thou  art  God."  We  desire  to  approach  Thee  in  the  name  of 
Thy  Son  Jesus  Christ*  and  ask  Thee  for  His  sake  to  pardon  all  our  sins,  and  forgive  all 
our  iniquities.  In  Thy  Providence  we  have  been  brought  together  at  this  place  for  a 
special  purpose  ;  and  we  ask  Thee,  Almighty  Father,  to  give  us  a  suitable  spirit  for 
the  present  occasion,  and  help  us  to  feel  the  responsibility  resting  upon  us.  As  mil 
lions  are  to  be  affected  by  this  great  meeting,  for  weal  or  woe,  please  guide  this  Con 
vention  in  wisdom,  that  good  may  result  from  ail  its  counsels.  We  would  most  de 
voutly  thank  Thee  for  all  Thy  mercies ;  and  as  the  storms  of  war  are  past,  grant  us 
peace  and  unity  in  all  the  borders  of  our  beloved  country,  that  there  may  be  perfect 
harmony  in  the  great  arch  of  States  represented  on  this  occasion  ;  that  the  constella 
tion  of  thirty-six  stars  seen  in  the  blue  field  of  our  national  emblem  may  never  be 
diminished.  May  our  Union  be  permanent ;  may  it  last  through  all  time.  We  ask 
that  it  may  still  be  the  Union  of  our  Fathers ;  and  may  their  mantle  fall  upon  us,  and 
may  we  who  are  here  have  the  spirit  of  '76.  We  ask  .Thee  for  temporal  blessings. 
May  our  fields  produce,  and  may  our  flocks  increase,  and  our  substance  multiply;  and 
may  all  be  spent  to  Thy  glory.  We  pray  for  our  rulers,  and  ask  that  they  may  be 
men  fearing  God,  and  hating  covetousness.  And  most  especially  do  we  pray  Thy 
blessing  upon  the  President  of  the  United  States.  Grant  him  the  head,  the  heart,  and 
the  hands  competent  to  his  great  task  ;  and  may  the  nation  prosper  under  Ms  admin 
istration.  In  a  very  few  years  we  will  be  called  to  sleep  the  long  sleep  of  death — to 
render  an  account  of  all  our  acts.  May  we  so  live  that  our  conduct  in  life  will  be  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  good  of  our  race  ;  and  when  a  dying  hour  c«mes,  may  we  be  at 
peace  with  all  our  fellow-men,  and  in  favor  with  God.  And,  finally,  through  the 
blood  of  our  blessed  Redeemer,  we  hope  to  praise  the  name  of  God.  the  ^Father,  Son, 
»ad  Spirit,  in  a  world  without  end.  Amen. 

REPORTS   OF   COMMITTEES. 

THJS  CHAIRMAN.  The^first  business  before^the  Convention  is  the  report  of  com 
mittees. 

Hon.  MONTGOMERY  BLAIR.  I  am  instructed  by  the  Committee  on  Organization  to 
nuke  the  following  report  of  the  officers  of  the  Convention. 

THE  CHAIRMAN.  The  Secretary  will  read  the  report  from  the  Committee  on  Or 
ganization. 

THE  SECRETARY.     The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Organization  is  as  follows : 

REPORT    OF    COMMITTEE    ON*    ORGANIZATION. 

For  President. — Hon.  JAMES  R.  DOOLITTLE,  of  Wisconsin. 

For  Vice  Presidents. — Leonard  Wood,  LL.D.,  Maine  ;  Daniel  Marcy,  New  Hampshire  ; 
Myron  Clark,  Vermont ;  Hon.  R.  T>.  Hall,  Massachusetts ;  Alfred  Anthony,  Rhode 
Island;  Hon.  0.  F.  Winchester,  Connecticut  ;  Hon.  Theodore  S.  Faxtoii,  New  York  : 
Gen.  (Vrshom  Mott,  New  Jersey  ;  Asa  Packer,  Pennsylvania ;  Ayres  Stockley,  Delaware; 
Gen.  George  Vicker?,  Maryland;  Hon.  John  W.  Brockenborough.  Virginia;  Thomas 
Sweeney,  West  Virginia  ;  Hon.  John  A.  Gilmer,  North  Carolina  ;  Judge  David  Lewis 
*  Wardlaw,  South  Carolina  ;  Richard  S.  Lyons,  Georgia  ;  Judge  Thomas  Randall,  Florida  ; 
G.  A.  Sykes,  Mississippi ;  Cuthbert  Bullitt,  Louisiana  ;  J.  M.  Tebbetts,  Arkansas  ;  D.  J. 
Burnett,  Texas  :  Thomas  A.  R.  Nelson,  Tennessee;  George  S.  Houston,  Alabama; 
Hen.  J.  W.  Ritter,  Kentucky:  Bon.  P.  Ranney,  Ohio  :  Hon.  W.  S.  Smith,  Indiana;  D. 
K.  Green,  Illinois  :  Hon.  0.  B.  Clark,  Michigan;  Hon.  John  Hogan,  Missouri;  Frank- 
lia  Steele,  Minnesota:  Gen.  Milton  Montgomery,  Wiscotisin;  Edward  Johnston,  Iowa: 
,T.  L.  Peudery,  Kansas:  William  T.  Coleman,  California:  Frank  Hereford,  Nevada; 

HJ6fli.  George  L.  Cuny,  Oregon  ;  Joseph  H.  Bradley,  Sr.,  District  of  Columbia  ;  

,  Arizona:  J.  W.  Turner,  Dakota;  Charles  F.  Powell,  Idaho;  George  L.  Mille*, 

Nebraska  ; ,  New  Mexico  ; ,  Utah  ;  Hon.  B.  F.  Hall,  Colo 
rado  ;  Eiv,  ood  Evans,  Washington  Territory. 

icbr  Secretaries. — James  Mann,  Maine  ;  E.  S.  Cutter,  New  Hampshire  ;  George  H. 
Simmons.  Vermont ;  Charles  Wright,  Massachusetts  ;  James  H.  Parsons,  Rhode 
Island  ;  James  A.  Hovey,  Connecticut ;  E.  0.  Perrin,  New  York ;  Col.  Thomas  S,  Allison, 
ersey  ;  Harry  A.  Weaver.  Pennsylvania  ;  J.  F.  Tharp,  Delaware  ;  Dr.  W.  W.  Wat- 


9 

kins,  Maryland;  Thomas  Wallace,  Virginia;  Henry  S.  Walker,  West  Virginia; 
S.  F.  Patterson,  North  Carolina ;  Thomas  Y.  Simmons,  South  Carolina ;  J.  H.  Christie, 
Georgia;  Judge  B.  D.  Wright,  Florida;  A.  G.  Mayer,  Mississippi;  A.  W.  Walker, 
Louisiana;  Elias  C.  Boudinot,  Arkansas;  J.  M.  Daniel,  Texas;  John  Lellyet,  Ten 
nessee  ;  C.  S.  G.  Doster,  Alabama ;  M.  H.  Owsley,  Kentucky ;  E.  B.  Eshelman,  Ohio  ; 
Col.  C.  C.  Matson,  Indiana;  John  McGinnis,  Jr.,  Illinois;  Gen.  John  G.  Parkhurst, 
Michigan;.  Col.  Q.  B.  Wilkinson,  Missouri;  Richard  Price,  Minnesota;  George  C. 
Ginty,  Wisconsin  ;  J.  M.  Walker,  Iowa  ;  W.  A.  Tipton,  Kansas  ;  Jackson  Temple,  Cali 
fornia  ;  Col.  Jesse  Williams,  Nevada ;  A.  D.  Fitch,  Oregon ;  James  R.  O'Beirne,  Dis 
trict  of  Columhia  ;  D.  T.  Bramble,  Dakota ;  Major  L.  Lowrie,  Nebraska ;  Charles  P. 
Egaii,  Washington. 

The  Chairman,  GENERAL  Dix,  at  this  point  introduced  the  Senator  from  Wisconsin, 
who,  upon  stepping  to  the  front  of  the  platform,  was  received  with  immense  cheers — 
the  whole  assemblage  rising  as  one  man,  and  the  applause  continued  until  order  was 
called.  Senator  DOOLITTLE  then  said : 

MR.  DOOLITTLE' s  SPEECH. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention  and  Fellow- Citizens  of  the  United  States  :  [Cheers.]  For 
the  distinguished  honor  of  being  called  upon  to  preside  over  the  deliberations  of  this 
Convention,  I  sincerely  thank  you.  I  could  have  wished  that  its  responsibilities  had 
fallen  upon  another,  but  relying  upon  that  courtesy  and  generous  confidence  which  has 
called  me  to  the -chair,  I  enter  at  once  upon  its  dutios  with  an  earnest  desire  for  the 
success  of  the  great  cause  in  which  we  are  now  engaged.  Among  the  great  events  of 
our  own  day  this  Convention,  in  my  opinion,  will  prove  to  be  one  of  the  greatest,  for 
"  peace  hath  her  victories  not  less  renowned  than  war."  [Applause.]  And  this  Conven 
tion  is  one  of  her  victories — may  I  not  say  a  crowning  victory  ?  [Applause.]  For  the 
first  time  in  six  years  a  National  Convention  representing  all  the  States  is  HOW  assem 
bled.  [Applause.]  Six  long,  woary  years  !  As  we  look  back,  oh!  what  an  interval 
of  blood,  and  agony,  and  tears  !  During  that  period  we  have  been  engaged  in  the  most 
gigantic  civil  war  the  world  has  ever  seen,  wasting  our  resources,  drenching  a  thousand 
battte-fields  with  fraternal  blood,  and  carrying  to  a  premature  grave  our  father,  our 
SOMS,  and  our  brothers  by  hundreds  of  thousands. 

But,  thanks  be  to  Almighty  God,  the  war  is  over,  [enthusiastic  cheering  and  ap 
plause,]  and  what  we  here  witness  assures  us  that  peace  has  come,  and  come  to  stay. 
[Applause.^j  Fellow-citizens,  if  the  people  of  the  United  States  could  at  this  moment 
look  in  upon  this  Convention,  if  they  could  see  what  we  now  witness,  the  North  and 
the  South,  the  East  and  the  West,  joining  together  in  fraternal  association  as  friends 
and  fellow-citizens,  our  work  would  be  already  done.  [Cheering  and  applause.]  If 
they  could  have  seen — as  we  saw — Massachusetts  and  South  Carolina,  [applause,]  by 
their  full  delegations,  coming  arm  in  arm  [applause]  into  this  great  Convention, 
[applause  ;]  if  they  could  have  seen  this  body,  greater  in  numbers,  and  in  weight  of 
character  and  brain,  than  ever  yet  assembled  on  this  Continent  under  one  roof, 
[applause,]  melting  to  tears  of  joy  and  gratitude  to  witness  this  commingling,  there 
could  be  no  struggle  at  the  polls  in  the  coming  elections.  [Applause.]  \ 

When  I  remember  that  it  was  Massachusetts  and  South  Carolina  that,  in  the  Con 
vention  which  framed  the  Constitution,  voted  against  the  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade  ;  that  it  was  Massachusetts  in  1812  which,  through  some  of  lier  men,  taught 
the  heresy  of  nullification,  which  South  Carolina  reasserted  in  1832,  and  in  the  form  of 
secession  again  in  1800;  when  I  call  to  mind  that  South  Carolina  fired  the  first 
gun,  and  that  the  veins  of  Massachusetts  poured  out  the  first  blood  in  the  recent 
struggle  ;  and  when  I  call  to  mind  all  these  memories,  and  at  the  same  time  see  these 
two  old  States  of  the  Union  coming  here  in  fraternal  embrace,  approaching  a  common 
altar  of  a  common  country,  ready  to  make  sacrifices  for  the  good  of  the  whole — I  say 
again,  could  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States  witness  all  this,  there  would  remain 
no  further  work  for  us  to  restore  the  Union.  [Applause.]  If  the  people  of  Massachu 
setts  herself  could  have  witnessed  it,  not  a  single  member  could  be  returned  to  Con 
gress  [enthusiastic  cheering  and  applause]  from  that  State  until  he  had  given  the 
most  sacred  pledge  that  he  would  do  all  in  his  power  in  Congress  to  recognize  the 
equalHy  and  dignity  of  all  States  under  the  Constitution,  [applause  and  cheering,} 
including  the  sacred,  inalienable  right  of  every  State  under  the  Constitution  to  repre 
sentation  ha  both  Houses.  [Cheering  and  applause.]  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention, 
I  shall  go  into  no  argument  on  this  occasion.  [A  voice,  "Go  on,  go  on."]  The  dis 
tinguished  gentleman  who  preceded  me  said  all  that  I  now  desire  to  say,  and  much- 
better  than  I  could  say  it.  [Voice,  "Go  on."]  I  endorse,  and  take  great  pleasure  in 
fnlly  endorsing,  all  that  he  said — sentence  by  sentence  and  word  by  word.  [Applause.] 

Fellow -citizens,  unfortunately  the  whole  people  of  the  Northern  States  do  not 
witness  what  is  now  transpiring  here  ;  therefore,  the  greater  work  still  rests  upon 


10 

cis  from  this  time  until  the  election  af  tlie  next  Congress.  We  should  be  untiring 
in  our  exertions  to  see  to  it  that  if  this  Congress  shall  continue  to  refuse  this  sacred 
right  of  representation  to  equal  States,  that  the  next  Congress  shall  recognize  them. 
[Cheers  and  applause.]  "When  that  is  done,  the  Union  is  restored.  [Applause.]  And 
when  the  Union  is  restored,  we  shall  be  prepared,  in  my  judgment,  to  enter  upon  a 
higher  and  nobler  career  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  than  has  yet  been  occu 
pied  by  any  Government  upon  which  the  sun  of  Heaven  ever  shone.  [Applause.]  We 
shall  stai-d  in  the  vanguard  of  civilization,  of  liberty  ;  we  shall  lead  by  the  light  of  our 
example  all  other  nation*  of  the  earth. 

Gentlemen,  without  detaining  you  longer,  I  shall  enter  at  once  upon  the  duties  of  the 
chair.  [Enthusiastic  and  prolonged  cheering  and  applause.] 

The  band  here  struck  up  the  inspiring  notes  of  the  Star-Spangled  Banner. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  The  gentlemen  who  have  been  chosen  as  vice  presidents  of  the  Con 
vention  will  now  please  to  come  forward  and  take  their  seats  upon  the  platform  to  the 
right  and  to  the  left  of  the  Chair,  and  while  they  are  so  doing  the  music  will  continue. 

Here  the  band  struck  up  the  popular  air  "Tramp.  Tramp,"  until  the  vice  presidents 
and  secretaries  had  assumed  their  places. 

THE  PRESIDENT.     The  Convention  will  now  bo  in  order. 

GENERAL  STEEPMAN.  I  have  leave  to  present  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Creden 
tials,  which  I  now  baud  to  the  Chair. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  The  gentleman  from  Ohio  offers  the  following  report  from  the  Com- . 
mittee  on  Credentials.  The  Secretary  will  read  the  report. 

THE  SECRETARY.     The  following  report  is  made  by  the  chairman  of  thl  Committee  on 
Credentials : 

H3P01ST   0?   TUE    COMMITTEE   OX   CREDENTIALS.  ^^irS 

The  Committee  en  Credentials  report  that  they  have  considered  the  credentials  of  all 
the  delegates  presented  to  them,  and  that  in  no  State  has  any  contest  occurred  except 
in  Maine,  Delaware,  and  New  York,  and  in  these  cases  they  have  made  the  following 
-disposition : 

The  delegation  elected  by  the, meeting  held  at  Rutland,  headed  by  Governor  Crosby, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  Committee,  are  entitled  to  admission  as  delegates  from  the  State 
of  Maine. 

The  Committee  recommend  that  the  delegation  from  Delaware,  elected  by  the  meet 
ing  held  at  Dover,  on  the  26th  of  July,  be  admitted  as  delegates  from  that  State.  The 
Committee  recommend  that  the  persons  chosen  by  the  meeting  held  at  Wilmington,  on 
the  2d  of  August,  be  admitted  to  honorary  seats  in  this  Convention. 

They  also  recommend  that  the  gentlemen  attending  from  the  New  York  Service 
Society  of  Soldiers  and  Sailors,  and  the  gentlemen  recommended  by  the  chairman  of 
the  Kew  York  delegation,  be  admitted  to  seats  as  honorary  members,  and  that,  inas 
much  as  the  reading  of  the  list  of  the  delegates  must  occupymuch  time,  the  Committee 
recommend  the  reading  be  dispensed  with,  and  that  the  list  be  published  with  the 
proceedings  of  the  Convention. 

GENERAL  STEEDIIAN.  For  the  information  of  the  Convention  I  will  state  that  room  44 
.at  the  Continental  Hotel  is  the  headquarters  of  the  Committee  on  Credentials.  A  book 
containing  the  names  ot  all  the  delegates  is  on  the  table  of  the  Secretary  of  this  Con 
vention,  and  will  be  taken  to  *hat  room  when  the  Convention  adjourns,  for  the  pur 
pose,  of  adding  the  names  of  such  delegates  as  have  reported  since  this  report  was 
made  up.  To  enable  the  Convention  to  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  business  for 
which  it  has  been  assembled,  I  now  move  the  previous  question  on  the  adoption  of  the 
report  ot  the  Committee. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  The  question  is  upon  the  adoption  of  the  report  of  the  committee. 
Those  who  are  in  favor  of  its  adoption  will  signify  the  same  by  saying  "aye." 

The  report  was  unanimously  adopted. 

VALLANDIG  HAM'S   WITHDRAWAL. 

Hon.  W.  S.  GEOESBECK,  of  Ohio.  I  desire  to  present  a  letter  from  a,  gentleman  who 
was  elected  a  delegate  to  this  Convention,  but  who  has  declined  to  take  his  place  afl 
Bnch.  The  letter  is  from  the  Hon.  C.  L.  Valland?gham.  I  would  further  state  that  I 
present  this  as  the  organ  of  the  united  delegations  of  the  State  ef  Ohio,  and  it  being 
addressed  to  the  Convention,  I  desire  it  may  be  read. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  The  gentleman  presents  a  letter  from  the  Hon.  C.  L.  Vallaadigham, 
and  desires  the  same  shall  be  read.  [Cheers  from  portions  of  the  hall.  1  It  requirea 
the  unanimous  consent  of  the  Convention. 

Mr.  HUGH  L.  GARDNER,  of  New  York,  and  others.     I  object. 

Hon.  REVEBPY  JOHNSON,  of  Maryland.  If  it  be  a  fact  that  it  requires  the.  unaaimoua 
consent  of  the  Convention,  I  move  the  rules  be  suspended. 


Hon.  LEWIS  D.  CAMPBELL,  of  Ohio.     I  second  the  motion. 

The  question  was  then  put  on  the  suspension  of  the  rules,  and  the  motion  to 
suspend  was  agreed  to. 

THB  PRESIDENT.  The  Secretary  will  now  read  the  letter  from  the  Hon.  C.  L.  Vallan- 
digham.  [Cheering.] 

THB  SECRETARY.     The  letter  is  as  follows  : 

VALI^NDIGHAM'S  LETTER. 

G:RARD  HOUSE,  PHILADELPHIA,  August  14,  lSb'6. 
To  the  Ohairnian  of  the  National  Union  Convention: 

SIR:  I  have  this  day  received  from  the  National  Union  Committee,  through  the 
Hon.  William  S.  Groesbeck,  chairman  of  the  joint  Ohio  delegation  to  your  Conven 
tion,  a  ticket  of  admission  as  a  delegate  from  that  State. 

'Hon.  George  W.  MeCook,  chairman  of  the  Democratic  delegation  from  Ohio,  has  also 
communicated  to  me  the  following  resolution,  adopted  this  morning  by  the  delegation  : 

Resolved  unanimoitfly  It/  the  Ohio  deieyation,  That  we  recognize  the  right  of  Clement  L.  YaHnndigham, 
a  duly  elected  delegate  from  the  Third  Congressional  District  of  Ohio,  to  hold  e  seat  in  that  Convention. 
That  we  should  regard  his  exclusion  from  such  seat  as  an  unjust  and  unreasonable  infringement  of  the 
'rights,  of  the  Democracy  of  said  district,  and  are  ready  to  stand  by  him  in  the  assertion  of  his  rights  and 
the  rights  of  his  constituents  ;  and  that  we  endorse  cordially  the  purity  and  patriotism  of  his.  motives  and 
his  fitness  every  way  to  sit  in  said  Convention  Yet,  for  the  sake  of  harmony  and  good  feeling  in  the 
same,  and  in  order  to  secure  the  great  ends  for  which  it  is  called,  we  consent  to  his  withdrawal  from  this 
delegation  and  from  a  seat  in  this  Convention,  if,  in  his  judgment,  his  duty  to  his  constituents  shall  justify 
euch  withdrawal. 

Yielding  my  own  deliberate  convictions  of  duty  and  right  to  the  almost  unanimous 
opinion  and  desire  of  friends,  whose  wisdom,  soundness  of  judgment,  and  sincerity  and 
purity  of  motives  I  may  not  question,  to  the  end  that  there  shall  be  no  pretext  even 
from  any  quarter  for  any  controverted  question  or  disturbing  element  in  the  Conven 
tion  to  mar  its  harmony,  or  to  hinder  in  any  way  the  good  results  to  the  cause  of  the 
Convention,  the  Union,  and  the  public  liberty,  which  shall  follow  from  its  deliberations 
and  its  actions,  I  hereby  withdraw  from  the  Ohio  Democratic  delegation,  ani  decline 
taking  my  seat  in  the  Convention.  I  am  profoundly  conscious  that  the  sanctity  and 
magnitude  of  the  interests  involved  in  the  present  political  canvass  in  the  United  States 
are  too  immense  not  to  demand  a  sacrifice  of  every  personal  consideration  in  a  struggle 
upon  the  issue  of  which  depends,  as  I  solemnly  believe,  the  present  peace,  and  ulti 
mately  the  existence  of  free  republican  government  on  this  continent. 

Trusting  that  your  deliberations  may  be  harmonious,  your  proceedings  full  of  the 
spirit  of  wisdom  and  patriotism,  and  its  results  crowned  with  a  glorious  and  saving 
triumph  in  the  end  to  the  great  cause  in  which  every  sympathy  of  my  heart  is  enlisted, 
am,  very  respectfully,  &c.»;vhh.  C.  L.  VALLA HDJGHAM. 

BNTHUSIA8TIC  RECEPTION  OF  HON.  EDGAIJ  COWAN. 

Hon.  EDGAR  COWAN.  You [The  cheering  that  arose  when  the  Senator  was  seen 

standing  continued  for  some  minutes.  The  ladies  joined  in  it,  and  hats'  and  handker 
chiefs  were  waved,  till  the  whole  large  mass  seemed  like  one  huge  wave  agitated  by  a 
passing  wind.  The  tall  form  of  th-i  Senator  turned  towards  them,  and  he  seamed  per 
fectly  overwhelmed  at  this  spontaneous  exhibition  of  his  national  popularity.  The 
cheering  subsided  once  or  twice,  arid  was  renewed  again  and  again.  At  last  he  said:}. 

You  will  excuse  me  for  this  time  ;  1  only  beg  leave  to  offer  the  following  resolution^ 
which  I  will  send  to  the  Chair. 

THE  PRESIDENT.     The  resolution  will  be  read. 

THE  SECRETARY.     The  resolution  is  as  follows  : 


RESOLUTION  FOR  A  COMMITTEE  ON  ADDRESS  AKD  RESOLUTIONS. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  two  from  each  State  and  Territory  be  appointed  to 
prepare  resolutions  and  an  address  for  the  Convention. 
The  resolution  passed  unanimously. 

THB  PRESIDENT.     The  following  despatch  has  just  been  received  from  the  President  of 
United  States.     [Long  and  enthusiastic  cheering.] 
SECRETARY.     I  will  now  read  the  despatch  : 


X 


DEBPATCH    FROM    TEE    PRESIDENT. 

WASHINGTON,  August  14,  186t). 
To  tlie  lion.  0.  II.  Browning  artJ  A.  W.  Randall,  Convention  at  Philadelphia  : 

I  thank  you  for  your  cheering  and  encouraging  despatch.  The  finger  of  Providence 
is  unerring,  aud  will  guide  you  safely  through.  The  people  rtfast  b*  trusted,  and  the 
country  will  be  restored.  Wv  faith  is  unshaken  a«  to  the  ultimate  success. 

ANDREW  JOHNSON. 
[Great  sheers.  ] 


12 

THE  PRESIDENT.  The  Cliair  will  now  announce  the  names  of  the  Committee  on  Reso 
lutions  and  Address.  There  are  some  States  for  which  names  have  not  been  presented 
to  the  Chair,  and  when  the  names  have  been  read  of  those  who  have  been  appointed 
the  Chair  will  have  the  names  of  those  States  called  in  order,  and  the  delegations  from 
those  States  can  send  the  names  of  two  persons  from  each  State  to  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions,  and  their  names  will  be  inserted.  The  Secretary  will  now  read  the  names 
•of  the  committee. 

THE  SECRETARY.     The  names  are  as  follows  : 

[The  Secretary  then  read  the  list  of  names.]  .mj    , 

Hon.  O.  H.  BROWNING,  of  Illinois.  Mr.  President,  the  names  as  announced  contain 
that  of  Charles  L.  Woodbury  in  lieu  of  that  of  S.  S.  Marvin.  I  ask  to  have  the  latter 
inserted. 

THE  PRESIDENT.     It  will  be  inserted. 

Mr.  LAWRENCE.     The  name  of  Thomas  Steers  is  omitted.     I  ask  that  it  be  inserted. 

THE  PKKSIDENT.     It  will  be  inserted. 

Mr.  B.  ABLE,  of  Missouri.  The  names  from  Missouri  were  omitted.  I  ask  that  those 
of  Governor  Austin  A.  King  and  James  0.  Broadhead  be  inserted  from  Missouri. 

THE  PRESIDENT.     Those  names  will  be  inserted.     The  corrected  list  will  now  be  read. 

THE  SECRETARY.     The  corrected  list  is  as  follows  : 

COMMITTEE  ON  RESOLUTIONS  AND  ADDRESS. 

Hon.  EDGAR  COWAN,  Chairman  ;  Maine,  R.  D.  Rice,  George  M,  Westou  ;  New  Hamp 
shire,  C.  B.  Bowers,  H.  Bingham  :  Vermont,  C.  N.  Davenport,  J.  H.Williams;  Mas 
sachusetts,  General  D.  N.  Couch,  C.  L.  Woodbury  ;  Rhode  Island,  William  Beach 
Lawrence,  Thomas  Steere  ;  Connecticut,  James  Dixon,  Origen  S.  Seymour  ;  New  York, 
Hon.  Henry  J.  Raymond,  Hon.  Saiiford  E.  Church  ;  New  Jersey,  Colonel  Ingham 
Coriell,  Abraham  Browning ;  Pennsylvania,  Hon.  Edgar  Cowan,  Hon.  Williatn  Bigler  ; 
Delaware,  Joseph  P.  Comeygs,  Ayres  Stockley  :  Maryland,  Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson,  Hon. 
John  W.  Crisfield  :  West  Virginia,  General  Joh»  J.  Jackson,  Daniel  Lamb  ;  Virginia, 
Hon.  Richard  H.  Parker,  John  L.  Marye  ;  North  Carolina,  Hon.  William  A.  Graham, 
Hon.  Nathaniel  Boyden ;  South  Carolina,  S.  McGowan,  B.  F.  Perry;  Georgia,  P.  W. 
Alexander,  A.  R.  Wright;  Florida,  Hon.  William  Marvin,  Hon.  Wilkinson  Call:  Ala 
bama,  C.  C.  Langdon,  T.  J.  Foster  ;  Mississippi,  William  Yerger,  Hon.  A.  Murdoch  ; 
Louisiana,  Hon.  John  Ray,  Joshua  Baker  ;  Texas,  B.  H.  Epperson,  L.  D.  Evans  ; 
Tennessee,  Hon.  John  S.  Brien,  Hon.  John  Baxter  ;  Arkansas,  William  Byers,  M.  L. 
Bell ;  Kentucky,  Hon.  E.  Hise,  Hon.  Garrett  Davis  ;  Ohio,  Solomon  Hinckle,  General 
George  W.  McCook  :  Indiana,  John  S.  Davis,  Hon.  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  ;  IJinois, 
Hon.  0.  H.  Browning,  Hon.  S.  S.  Marshall ;  Michigan,  William  B.  McCreary,  Hon. 
Charles  E.  Stewart ;  Missouri,  Austin  A.  King,  James  O.  Broadhead  ;  Minnesota,  Henry 
M.  Rice,  Daniel  S.  Norton  ;  Wisconsin,  C.  A.  Eldridge,  J.  J.  R.  Pease  ;  Iowa,  Charges 
Mason,  Thomas  H.  Benton,  jr. ;  Kansas,  General  Charles  W.  Blair,  W.  C.  McDowell; 
California.  R.  J.  Walker.  J.  A.  McDougall :  Nevada,  Governor  G.  M.  Beebe,  Frank. 
Hereford ;  Oregon,  G.  L.  Curry,  E.  M.  Barnum  ;  District  of  Columbia,  Richard  T. 

Merrick,  Dr.  Charles  Allen  ;  Arizona, ;  Dakota,   A.  J.  Faulk ;  Idaho,  C.  F. 

Powell,,  Henry  W.  Pugh :  Montana, ;  Nebraska,  General  H.  H.  Heath ;  New 

Mexico,   George    P.   Este  ;  Utah, :  Washington,   Edward  Lander ;  Colorado, 

Milo  Lee. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  The  committee  will  now  retire  for  purposes  of  consultation  into  the 
committee  room,  on  the  left  of  the  Chair. 

GENERAL  CARROLL,  of  New  York.     I  offer  the  following  resolution  : 

REVISION  OF  OUR  NEUTRALITY  LAWS. 

Re&olved,  That  there  is  demanded  a  revision  of  our  national  neutrality  laws,  in  con 
sequence  of  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  Congress  to  comply 
with  the  public  demand  for  the  revision  of  the  same. 

This  resolution  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 

Mr.  S.  S.  HAYES,  of  Illinois.  I  move  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolution  upon 
the  order  of  business 

The  PRESIDENT.  The  gentleman  will  wait  a  moment  until  the  Committee  on  Resolu 
tions  have  an  opportunity  to  retire. 

Mr.  S.  S.  HAYES,  of  Illinois,  offers  the  following  resolution,  which  will  be  read. 

The  Secretary  then  read  the  resolution,  as  follows: 

INSTRUCTIONS  TO  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  RESOLUTIONS. 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  be  authorized  and  directed  to  report 
in  print,  and  to  supply  each  member  of  the  Convention  with  a  copy  of  the  resolutions 
reported,  at  the  time  of  their  presentation. 


13 

Mr.  APGAR,  of  New  York.  Do  I  understand  that  it  is  expected  that  the  Chairman  of 
the  Committee  will  not  report  directly  to  the  Convention  ? 

THE  PRESIDENT.     The  resolution  will  again  be  read. 

The  Secretary  re-read  the  resolution. 

Mr.  APGAU,  of  New  York.  I  apprehend  that  under  the  resolution  adopted  for  your 
Convention  as  a  rule  of  its  proceedings,  this  resolution  must  go  to  the  Committee 
on  Resolution?  without  debate. 

THK  PRESIDENT.  I  think  the  point  taken  by  the  gentleman  from  New  York  is  correct. 
This  resolution  will  go  to  the  Coimaitte  on  Resolutions  under  the  rule  already  adopted. 
[Slight  applause.] 

•REMARKS  OF  Mli.   HAYES,   OF  ILLINOIS. 

Mr.  HAYES,  of  Illinois.  I  rise  to  a  point  of  order.  I  understand  by  the  remarks  of  the 
gentleman  from  New  York  that  the  resolutions,  under  the  rule,  must  go  to  the  Com 
mittee  on  Resolutions  without  the  action  of  this  Convention,  and  upon  that  motion  or 
suggestion  I  am  prepared  to  say  one  single  word. 

I  was  asked  tke  object  of  the  resolution,  and  in  answer  would  say,  that  I  understand 
by  the  rule  of  proceedings  adopted  by  the  Convention  that  all  resolutions  containing  a 
declaration  of  principle,  or  having  reference  to  the  platform  adopted  by  this  Convention, 
shall  go  before  the  Convention  through  a  committee  appointed  to  consider  the  effect  of 
those-  resolutions.  But  the  resolution  proposed  by  me  is  not  a  resolution  in  relation 
to  principle,  or  in  relation  to  the  general  action  of  this  Convention.  It  is  simply  a  di 
rection  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  to  make  areport  in  such  a  manner  that  this  Con 
vention  may  be  fully  posted  on  the  subject  of  the  resolutions  before  it  acts  upon  them. 
Sir,  I  came  to  this  Convention  with  a  sincere,  a  disinterested  purpose.  I  came  here 
with  no  personal  object  to  attain,  so  far  as  I  know,  so  help  me  God.  Sir,  I  arn  a  mem 
ber  of  what  is  called  the  Democratic  party  of  this  country,  [applause,]  and,  sir,  I  came 
here  with  the  utmost  enthusiasm  for  the  great  cause  in  which  we  are  all  united.  Sir, 
I  expect  that  this  Convention  will  do  or  say  nothing  in  the  platform  to  which  I,  as  a 
consistent  and  Union-loving  Democrat,  cannot  heartilytsubscribe.  [Applause.]  I 
know  the  Democratic  party  of  this  country.  I.  sir,  am  proud  to  be  a  member  of  that 
party,  and  I  believe  that  if  there  ever  was  a  patriotic  party  in  the  world  it  is  the  Demo 
cratic  party  of  this  country.  [Applau.se.]  I  desire  to  say — [Voices,"  Question," 
4  'question, ' '  ' 'question. ' '  ] 

Mr.  APGAR,  of  New  York.     I  rise  to  a  point  of  order. 

Mr.  HAYE.S,  of  IHinois.     One  word  more. 

THR  PRESIDENT.  The  gentleman  from  Illinois  will  allow  the  Chair  tb  state  that  there 
is  a  gentleman  rising  on  the  left  to  a  point  of  order.  It  may  have  escaped  his  attention. 
There  is  no  question  before  the  Convention,  as  no  appeal  was  taken  from  the  decision 
of  the  Chair. 

Mr.  HAYES,  of  Illinois.  I  don't  propose  to  dissent  from  the  action  of  the  Convention, 
although  it  was  taken  without  argument,  on  the  decision  of  the  Chair.  I  had  merely 
one  word  of  explanation.  I  believe  that  that  resolution,  in  the  form  in  which  it  ap 
pears  to  the  committee,  will  meet  with  their  careful  consideration  ;  but  I  wish  to  add, 
~as  a  reason  for  introducing  it  now,  that  the  resolutions  shall  be  carefully  considered  by 
the  delegations,  and  be  in  print,  so  that  each  delegation  ghall  meet  together  and 
.unanimously  adopt  them.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  APGAE,  of  New  York.     The  gentleman  is  out  of  order. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  There  is  no  question  before  the  House,  and  the  gentleman  has 
taken  his  seat. 

Mr.  HOGAJT,  of  Missouri.  I  move  that  this  Convention  take  a  recess  for  an  hour  or 
two,  to  allow  the  committee  to  deliberate  upon  the  resolutions. 

[Voices,  "  No,  "  "  no,  "  "  no.  ''] 

THE  PRESIDENT.  The  gentleman  from  Missouri  suggests  that  the  Convention  take  a 
recess  of  two  hours. 

[The  name  of  Milo  Lee  was  here  inserted  OH  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  au<I 
adopted.] 

Mr.  COWAN,  of  Pennsylvania.  I  beg  leave  to  report  that  the  committee  have  not 
-organized,  and  will  not  be  able  to  report  finally  to  the  Convention  before  to-rnor- 
row  at  ten  o'clock,  and  therefore  ask  leave  to  sit  until  that  time. 

-    THE  PRESIDENT.     It  is  moved  that  when  this  Convention  adjourns  it  adjourn  to  meet 
again  to-morrow  morning  at  ten  o'clock. 

A  motion  was  then  made  as  an  amendment  to  the  previous  motion,  that  when  the 
Convention  adjourns  it  adjourn  to  meet  to-morrow  at  twelve  o'clock. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  It  is  moved  and  seconded  that  when  this  Convention  adjourns  it 
.adjourn  to  meet  to-morrow  at  twelve  o'clock. 

A  vote  wa*  taken,  but  the  Chair  did  not  decide. 

[Voices,  "Ten  o'clock,  "  "ten  o'clock,  '»] 
* 


14 

Mr,  KALBFirjscn.  of  New  York,  moved,  as  an  amendment  to  the  amendment,  that 
eleven  o'clock  be  inserted  in  the  place  of  twelve. 

Mr.  BAILEY,  of  Massachusetts.  I  trust  that  the  original  motion  will  prevail,  tor  the 
reason  that  there  are  a  large  number  of  people  here  who  are  desirous  of  getting  through- 
as  soon  as  possible  with  the  work  of  the  Convention.  Therefore,  I  hope  that  the  hour 
of  ten  o'clock  will  prevail.  [Applause.] 

THE  PRESIDENT.     The  amendment  to  the  amendment  is  first  in  order. 

The  ayes  and  noes  were  taken,  and  the  amendment  to  the  amendment  (fixing  the 
hour  at  eleven  o'clock  j  was  lost. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  Now  the  motion  is  upon  the  amendment  fixing  the  hour  at  twelve 
o'clock. 

The  ayes  and  noes  were  taken  and^the  amendment  was  lost. 

The  original  motion  was  then  put  and  carried. 

Mr.  FixscHiNG,  of  Pennsylvania.  I  have  a  memorial  prepared  by  gentlemen  in  my 
Congressional  district,  which  I  wish  to  have  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 
I  wish  to  have  it  referred  without  a  reading. 

The  memorial  was  referred  to  that  committee  under  the  rule. 

Mr.  BABCOCK,  of  Connecticut.  1  beg  leave  to  refer  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions 
the  resolution  which  I  hold  in  my  hand.  Referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 

Mr.  BABCOHC,  of  Connecticut.     I  have  a  brief  statement  to  make  to  the  Convention . 

ADDRESS    OF    SOUTHERN  DELEGATE?,  NATIVES  OF  NEW  ENGLAND,    TO  THE^PEOFLE  OF  NEW 

ENGLAND. 

The  members  of  the  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  and  Missouri  delegations,  who  were  born 
in  New  England,  have  prepared  an  address  to  the  people  of  New  England  and  to 
the  people  of  the  whole  North,  with  the  consent  of  this  Convention.  That  address,  beau 
tiful  in  its  expression,  eloquent  in  its  appeal,  and  full  of  patriotism,  and  of  the  earnest 
purpose  that  animates  all  our  hearts,  has  been  read  to  us  of  this  Connecticut  delega 
tion,  and  by  unanimous  vote  I  have  been  requested  to  move  that  that  address  may  be 
made  a  part  of  the  proceedings  of  this  Convention.  I  therefore  move  you,  sir,  that 
the  address  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  and  Address,  and  be  read  to 
this  Convention,  and  form  a  part  of  these  proceedings.  [Voices,"  Good,  "  "good."] 
It  was  referred  to  the  committee. 

ADJOURNMENT. 

Mr.  ORR,  of  South  Carolina.     I  move  that  the  Convention  do  mow  adjourn.   ' 
A  vote  was  taken  and  the  motion  carried.     The  Convention  then  adjourned  to  meet 
again  to-morrow  morning  at  ten  o'clock. 

THIRD  DAY. 

The  Convention  met  pursuant  to  adjournment.  At  ten  A.  M.  the  Convention  wag 
called  to  order. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  The  Convention  will  please  come  to  order,  and  the  Rev.  M.  J.  S. 
Reimensynder,  of  Le-vvistown,  Pennsylvania,  will  open  tiie  proceedings  with  prayer. 

THE  PRAYER. 

Lord  God,  Jehovah,  King  of  Kings  !  We  adore  Thee  as  the  first,  the  greatest,  and 
the  best  of  beings.  Thou  art  the  Author  of  this  creation,  both  physical  and  spiritual. 
Thou  art  the  Ruler  of  all  the  earth  ;  tho  Sovereign  of  all  things  that  are  in  Heaven 
above  and  on  the  earth  beneath,  visible  and  invisible,  whether  they  be  thrones  or  do 
minions,  and  principalities  or  powers  ;  Thou  art  from  everlasting  to  everlasting.  Of 
old  didst  Thou  lay  the  foundations  of  this  earth,  and  give  to  the  sea  her  depth,  and 
stretch  over  our  heads  the  glorious  firmament  rejoicing  in  its  stars.  Thou  ill  lest  the 
heavens  with  Thy  presence,  and  immensity  is  Thy  realm,  and  the  eternal  years  the 
servants  of  Thy  sceptre.  How,  then,  can  we,  creatures  of  the  dust  and  of  a  day,  aspire 
to  cast*  up  our  eyes,  after  our  rebellion,  unto  Thee,  save  through  the  promises  of  Thy 
Son  Jesus  Christ,  through  that  love  ami  forbearance  which  knew  no  limits  ?  For  to 
save  the  chiefest  of  sinners  Thou  didst  give  the  precious  blooi  of  Thine  only  beloved 
Son.  We  come  trusting  in  and  pleading  this  blood,  asking  that  Thou  will  freely  re 
ceive  us,  and  not  cast  us,  Thy  children,  off  forever.  We  thank  Thee  that  Thou  didst 
make  our  p,;1h way  easier  than  before,  and  that  Tho  a  didst  change  the  convenant  of 
works  to  that  of  grace  ;  so  that  we  have  gained,  through  Christ,  more  tix.au  lost  through 
Adam.  And  yet,  0  Father,  in  the  weaknes-5  ofhviman  wisdom,  and  the  folly  of  human 
guilt,  we  have  been  in  a  great  and  tearful  conflict  against  each  other.  Brother  has 
strivea  against  brother  for  the  mastery,  till  the  very  heavens  were  shaken  with  the 
roar  of  our  arms  ;  fields  are  laid  waste,  and  the  battle's  dia  raged  for  six  years — -six 
years  of  hardship.?  and  suffering  in  the  tinted  field,  upon  the  weary  march,  upon  the 
field  of  battle.  But  we  thank  Thee  that  they  come  up  now  from  the  North  and  from  the 


15 

South,  from  the  East  aiul  from  the  West,  to  meet  beneath  the  icgi's  of  the  American 
eagle  ;  that  they  meet  each  other  again  with  the  loving,  true  hands  of  friends  and  of 
brethren.  We  adore  and  thank  Thee  for  this  great  spectacle,  arid  we  confidently 
invoke  Thy  presence  and  Thy  sanction  to  rest  eipoii  the  great  work  now  imposed  upon 
this,  the  most  august  of  American  assemblies.  Crown  its  deliberations  with  holy 
wisdom;  sanctify  them  with  Thy  love  ;  harmonize  them  for  peace  ;  make  them  fit  to 
Bright  the  woes  of  this  great  people.  Let  Thy  blessings  especially  rest  upon  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  in  his  efforts  to  vindicate  the  Constitution  and  render 
'this  great  American  nation  imperishable  throughout  future  generations.  And  do  Thou 
.grant,  0  Lord,  that  its  future  may  ever,  as  now,  be  decided  on  the  fields  of  talent,  and 
not  on  the  contested  grounds  of  the  sword.  And  now  we  commit  humbly,  and  yet 
trustiagly,  our  great  country,  our  great  people,  and  our  common  destiny  into  the 
keeping  of  the  adorable  Trinity  of  Heaven— Father,  Son.  and  Holy  Spirit — world  with 
out  end.  Amen. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  Gentlemen  will  now  resume  their  seats  and  the  Convention  be  in 
order.  Before  proceeding  to  any  further  business,  the  Chair  begs  leave  to  announce, 
-as  the  first  response  to  our  action,  the  result  of  the  Colorado  election.  [Great  cheers.] 
Returns  read: 

COLORADO,  August  15. — Returns  from  all  parts  of  the  Territory  render  certain  the 
-election  of  A.  C.  Hunt,  Administration  candidate,  for  Delegate  to  Congress,  over 
Chillcot,  the  Radical  candidate. 

[Enthusiastic  applause.] 

Mr.  SMITH,  of  New  Jersey.     I  beg  to  offer  the  following  resolution  : 

THIS  PRESIDENT.  The.  Secretary  will  read  the  resolution  offered  by  the  gentleman  from 
New  Jersey. 

The  Secretary  then  read  the  following : 

NATIONAL  UNION  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 

Resolved,  That  a  Union  National  Executive  Committee  be  appointed,  to  be  composed 
of  two  delegates  from  each  State  and  Territory  and  the  District  of  Columbia. 
The  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted  : 

Hon.  REVERDY  JOHNSON.     I  wish  to  offer  this  resolution  to  the  Convention. 
THK  PRESIDENT.     The  resolution  will  be  read. 
The  Secretary  read  the  following  : 

COMMITTK3  TO  PRESENT  THE  PKOCEKDINGS  TO  THE  PKESIDEKT. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  two  fi-om  each  State  and  one  from  each  Territory  of  the 
'United  States;  and  one  from  the  District  of  Columbia,  be  appointed  by  the  t'hair  to  wait 
•upon  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  present  him  with  an  authentic  copy  of  the 
proceedings  of  this  Convention. 

[Cheers.] 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted. 

CHARLES  KNAP,  Esoi.     I  offer  the  followtDf  resolution. 

[Cheers.] 

THE  PRESIDENT.  The  Secretary  will  read  the  resolution.  The  Convention  will  come 
to  order. 

The  Secretary  read  the  following' : 

COMMITTED:  ON  FINANCE. 

Rewired,  That  a  committee  on  finance  be  appointed,  to  consist  of  two  delegates  from 
each  State  and  Territory  and  from  the  District  of  Columbia. 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted. 

GENERAL  PATTERSON,  of  Pennsylvania.  I  have  been  informed  that  my  name  has  been 
added  to  the  list  of  delegates,  and  as  I  understand  there  was  a  contestant  for  the  seat, 
I  beg  to  offer  the  following  resolution,  and  ask  that  it  bo  read : 

TUB  PRESIDENT.     It  nuist  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 

Hon.  EDWAR  COWAN.     I  beg  to  offer  the  following  resolution : 

THB  PRESIDENT.     The  resolution  will  be  read. 

The  Secretary  read  ttie  following  : 

THAlfKS    TO   THE   MAYOR   OF    PHILADELPHIA. 

Rwoli-cd.  That  the  thanks  of  this  Convention  are  due,  and  are  hereby  tendered, 
Morton  McMichnel,  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  for  his  admirable  police  arrange 
ments  for  the  preservation  of  peace  and  good  order  during  the  session  of  this  Conven 
tion. 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted. 


16      V' 

RKPOUT    OP    COMMITTEE   ON    RESOLUTIONS    AKD  ADDRK8S. 

Hon.  EDGAR  COWAN.  On  behalf  of  the  committee  appointed  to  prepare  resolutions 
and  an  address,  after  a  very  careful  and  elaborate  consideration  of  the  subject,  lasting 
all  the  day  and  a  good  part  of  the  night,  I  beg  leave  to  report  the  following  declaration 
of  principles,  adopted  unanimously  by  the  committee,  which  will  be  read  to  the  Con 
vention  ;  and  also  the  address  to  the  people  of  the  country,  which  will  be  read  by  the 
Hon.  Mr.  Raymond,  of  New  York. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  The  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  offers  the  following  declaration  of 
principles  and  accompanying  resolutions,  which  will  now  be  read  : 

The  Secretary  then  read  as  follows : 

BECLARAT10N   OF    PRINCIPLES. 

The  National  Union  Convention,  now  assembled  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  composed 
of  delegates  from  every  State  and  Territory  in  the  Union,  admonished  by  the  solemn 
lessons  which,  for  the  last  five  years,  it  has  pleased  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  Universe 
to  give  to  the  American  people  ;  profoundly  grateful  for  the  return  of  peace  ;  desirous, 
as  are  a  large  majority  of  their  countrymen,  in  all  sincerity,  to  forget  and  forgive  the 
past ;  revering  the  Constitution  as  it  comes  to  us  from  our  ancestors ;  regarding  the 
Union  in  its  restoration  as  more  sacred  than  ever  ;  looking  with  deep  anxiety  into  the 
future,  as  of  instant  and  continuing  trials,  hereby  issues  and  proclaims  the  following 
declaration  of  principles  and  purposes,  on  which  they  have,  with  perfect  unanimity, 
agreed : 

1st.  We  hail  with  gratitude  to  Almighty  God  the  end  of  the  war  'and  the  return  of 
peace  to  our  afflicted  asd  beloved  land. 

2d.  The  war  just  closed  has  maintained  the  authority  of  the  Constitution,  with  all 
the  powers  which  it  confers,  and  all  the  restrictions  which  it  imposes  upon  the  General 
Government,  unabridged  and  unaltered,  and  it  has  preserved  the  Union,  with  the  equal 
rights,  dignity,  and  authority  of  the  States  perfect  and  unimpaired. 

3d.  Representation  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  and  in  the  Electoral  College 
is  a  right  recognized  by  the  Constitution  as  abiding  in  every  State,  and  as  a  duty  im 
posed  upon  the  people,  fundamental  in  its  nature,  and  essential  to  the  existence  of  our 
republican  institutions,  and  neither  Congress  nor  the  General  Government  has  any 
authority  or  power  to  deny  this  right  to  any  State  or  to  withhold  its  enjoyment  under 
the  Constitution  from  the  people  thereof. 

4th.  We  call  upon  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  elect  to  Congress  as  members 
thereof  none  but  men  who  admit  this  fundamental  right  of  representation,  and  who 
will  receive  to  seals  therein  loyal  representatives  from  every  State  in  allegiance  to  the 
United  States,  subject  to  the  constitutional  right  of  each  House  to  judge  of  the  elec 
tions,  returns,  and  qualifications  of  its  own  members. 

5th.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  laws  made  in  pursuance  thereof, 
are  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  anything  in  the  constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding.  All  the  powers  not  conferred  by  the  Constitution  upon 
the  General  Government,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States, 
or  to  the  people  thereof ;  and  among  the  rights  thus  reserved  to  the  States  is  the  right 
to  prescribe  qualifications  for  the  elective  franchise  therein,  with  which  right  Congress 
cannot  interfere.  No  State  or  combination  of  States  has  tke  right  to  withdraw  from 
the  Union,  or  to  exclude,  through  their  action  in  Congress  or  otherwise,  any  other  State 
or  States  from  the  Union.  The  Union  of  these  States  is  perpetual. 

6th.  Such  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  may  be  made  by  the 
people  thereof  as  they  may  deem  expedient,  but  only  in  the  mode  pointed  out  by  its 
provisions  ;  and  in  proposing  such  amendments,  whether  by  Congress  or  by  a  Conven 
tion,  and  in  ratifying  the  same,  all  the  States  of  the  Union  have  an  equal  and  an  inde 
feasible  right  to  a  voice  and  a  vote  thereon. 

7th.  Slavery  is  abolished  and  forever  prohibited,  and  there  is  neither  desire  nor  pur 
pose  on  the  part  of  the  Southern  States  that  it  should  ever  be  re-established  upon  the 
soil,  or  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  ;  and  the  enfranchised  slaves  in  all 
the  States  of  the  Union  should  receive,  in  common  with  all  their  inhabitants,  equal  pro 
tection  in  every  right  of  person  and  property. 

8th.  While  we  regard  a,--  utterly  invalid,  and  never  to  be  assumed  or  made  of  binding 
force,  any  obligations  incurred  or  undertaken  in  making  war  against  the  United  States, 
we  hold  the  debt  of  the  Nation  to  be  sacred  and  inviolable  ;  and  we  proclaim  our  pur 
pose  in  discharging  this,  as  in  performing  all  other  national  obligations,  to  maintain, 
unimpaired  and  un impeached  the  honor  and  the  faith  of  the  Republic. 

9th.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  National  Government  to  recognize  the  services  of  the  Fede 
ral  soldiers  and  sailors  in  the  contest  just  closed,  by  meeting  promptly  and  fully  all 
their  just  and  rightful  claims  for  the  services  they  have  rendered  the  Nation,  and  by 


17  |; 

extending  to  those  of  them  who  have  survived,  and  to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those 
who  have  fallen,  the  most  generous  and  considerate  care. 

10th.  In  Andrew  Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States,  who,  in  his  great  office, 
has  proved  steadfast  in  his  devotion  to  the  Constitution,  the  laws,  and  interests  of  his 
country,  unmoved  by  persecution  and  undeserved  reproach,  having  faith  unassailable 
:»  the  people  and  in  the  principles  of  free  government,  we  recognize  a  Chief  Magistrate 
worthy  of  the  Nation  and  equal  to  the  great  crisis  upon  which  his  lot  is  cast  ;  and  we 
tender  to  him,  in  the  discharge  of  his  high  and  responsible  duties,  our  profound  respect 
and  assurance  of  our  cordial  and  sincere  support. 

The  lesolutions  were  unanimously  adopted. 

A  DELEGATE  from  Pennsylvania.     I  propose  three  cheers  for  the  Hon.  Edgar  Cowan. 

ENTHUSIASTIC   CHEERS    FOR    HON.  EDGAR  COWAN. 

Three  hearty  cheers  were  here  given,  the  whole  audience  rising  to  their  feet  and1 
heartily  responding. 

GENERAL  W.  PATTEN,  of  Pennsylvania.     I  propose  three  more  for  Mr.  Cowan. 
This  was  responded  to  in  like  manner. 

MR.  COWAN'S  RESPONSE. 

Mr.  COWAN,  of  Pennsylvania. — Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention :  I 
claim  to  be  the  host  of  the  Convention,  and  oii-j  of  my  distinguished  guests  will  now  ad 
dress  you,  and  address  you  by  virtue  of  authority  unanimously  derived  from  the  Com 
mittee  on  Resolution?;  and  Address — the  Hon.  Mr.  Raymond.  [Applause.] 

THE  PRESIDENT.  The  Hon.  Mr.  Raymond,  from  the  State  of  New  York,  will  now  read 
the  address,  which  has  received  the  unanimous  approval  of  the  Committee  on  Resolu 
tions  and  Address.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  RAYMOND  then  stepped  forward,  amid  deafening  cheers,  which,  having  somewhat 
subsided,  he  read  as  follows  : 

THE  PRESIDENT.     The  Hon.  H.  J.  Raymond  will  now  read  the  address. 

The  Hon.  H.  J.  RAYMOND  then  read  as  follows  : 

THE   ADDRESS. 

To  the  People  of  the   United  States : 

Having  met  in  Convention  at  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania, 
this  16th  day  of  August,  1866,  as  the  representatives  of  the  people  in  all  sections  and 
all  the  States  and  Territories  of  the  Union,  to  consult  upon  the  condition  and  the  wants 
of  our  common  country,  we  address  to  you  this  declaration  of  our  principles  and  of  the 
political  purposes  we  seek  to  promote. 

Since  the  meeting  of  %the  last  National  Convention,  in  the  year  IS'jO,  events  have  oc 
curred  which  have  changed  the  character  of  our  internal  policy,  and  given  the  United 
States  a  new  place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Our  Government  has  passed 
through  the  vicissitudes  antl  the  perils  of  civil  war — a  war  which,  though  mainly  sec 
tional  in  its  character,  has  nevertheless  decided  political  differences  that  from  the  very 
beginning  of  the  Government  had  threatened  the  unity  of  our  national  existence,  and 
has  left-  it? impress,  deep  and  ineffaceable,  upon  all  the  interests,  the  sentiments,  and 
thedeilVny  of  the  Republic.  While  it  has  inliicted  upon,  the  whole  country  severe 
losses  in  life  and  in  property,  and  has  imposed  burdens  which  must  weigh  on  fts  re 
sources  for  generations  to  come,  it  has  developed  a  degree  of  noble  courage  in  the  pres 
ence  of  national  dangers',  a  capacity  for  military  organization  and  achievment,  and 
devotion  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  the  form  of  government  which  they  have  ordained, 
and  to  the  principles  of  liberty  which  that  Government  was  designed  to  promote,  which 
must  confirm  the  confidence  of  the  Nation  in  the  perpetuity  of  its  republican  institu 
tions,  and  command  the  respect  of  the  civilized  world.  Like  all  great  contests  which 
rouse  the  passions  and  test  the  endurance  of  nations,  this  war  has  given  new  scope  to 
the  ambition  of  political  partie?,  and  fresh  impulse  to  plans  of  innovation  and  reform. 
Amidst  the  chorus  of  conflicting  sentiments,  inseparable  from  such  an  era,  while  the 
public  heart  is  keenly  alive  to  all  the  passions  that  can  sway  the  public  judgment  and 
affect  the  public  action,  while  the  wounds  of  war  are  still  fresh  and  bleeding  on  either 
side,  and  fears  for  the  future  take  unjust  proportions  from  the  memories  and  resent 
ments  of  the  past,  it  is  a  difficult,  but  an  imperative  duty  which,  in  your  behalf,  we 
who  are  here  asembled  have  undertaken  to  perform.  For  the  first  time  after  six  long 
years  of  alienation  and  of  confllict,  we  have  come  together  from  every  State  and  every 
.section  of  our  land,  as  citizens  of  a  common  country,  under  that  flag,  the  symbol  again 
of  a  common  glory,  to  consult  together  how  best  to  secure  and  perpetuate  that  Union 
which  is  again  the  object  of  our  common  love,  and  thus  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty 
to  ourselves  and  our  posterity.  . 


'  1S 

In  the  first  place,  we  invoke  you  to  remember,  always  and  everywhere,  that  the  war 
id  ended,  and  the  nation  is  again  at  peace.  The  shock  of  contending  arms  no  longer 
assails  the  shuddering  heart  of  the  Republic.  The  insurrection  against  the  supreme 
authority  of  th<?  nation  lias  been  suppressed,  and  that  authority  has  been  again  ac 
knowledged  by  word  and  act  in  every  State  and  by  every  citi/en  within  its  jurisdic 
tion.  We  are  no  longer  required  or  permitted  to  regard  or  treat  each  other  as  ene 
mies.  Not  only  have  the  acts  of  war  been  discontinued,  and  the  weapons  of  war  laid 
-aside,  but  the  state  of  war  no  longer  exists,  and  the  sentiments,  the  passions,  the  rela 
tions  of  war  have  no  longer  lawful  or  rightful  place  anywhere  throughout  our  broad, 
[dominion.  We  are  again  people  of  the  United  States,  fellow-citizens  of  one  country, 
;  bound  by  the  duties  and  obligations  of  a  common  nation,  and  having  neither  rights 
nor  interests  apart  from  a  common  destiny.  The  duties  that  devolve  upon  u.s  now  are 
again  the  duties  of  peace,  and  no  longer  the  duties  of  war.  We  have  assembled  here 
to  take  counsel  concerning  the  interests  of  peace,  to  decide  how  we  may  most  wisely 
and  effectually  heal  the  wounds  the  war  has  made,  and  perfect  and  perpetuate  the 
benefits  it  has  secured,  and  tlie  blessings  which,  under  a  wise  and  benign  Providence, 
sprung  up  in  its  .fiery  track.  This  is  the  work  not  of  passion,  but  of  calm  and  sober 
judgment ;  not  of  resentment  for  past  offences,  prolonged  beyond  the  limits  which 
iustice  and  reason  prescribe,  but  of  a  liberal  statesmanship  which  tolerates  what  it 
cannot  prevent,  and  builds  its  plans  and  its  hopes  for  the  future  rather  upon,  a  com 
munity  of  interest  and  ambition  than  upon  distrust  and  the  weapons  of  force. 

In  the  next  place,  we  call  upon  you  to  recognize,  in  their  full  significance,  and  to 
accept,  with  all  their  legitimate  consequences,  the  political  results  of  the  war  just 
closed.  In  two  most  important  particulars  the  victory  achieved  by  the  National  Gov 
ernment  has  been  final  and  decisive — first :  it  has  established,  beyond  all  further  con 
troversy,  and  by  the  highest  of  all  human  sanction,  the  absolute  supremacy  of  the 
National  Government,  as  defined  and  directed  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  permanent  integrity  and  indissolubility  of  the  Federal  Union  is  a  necessary 
consequence:  and  secondly,  it  has  put  an  end,  finally  and  forever,  to  the  existence  of 
slavery  upon  the  soil  or  within  the  jurisdiction  of  tho  United  States.  Both  these 
points  became  directly  involved  in  the  contest,  and  controversy  upon  both,  has  ended 
absolutely  and  finally  by  the  result. 

In  the  third  place,' we  deem  it  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  real  character  of 
the  war,  anl  the  victory  by  which  it  was  closed,  should  be  accurately  understood. 
The  war  was  carried  on  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  in  maintenance  of  its 
own  authority,  and  in  defence  of  its  own  existence,  both  of  which  were  menaced  by 
the  insurrection  which  it  sought  to  suppress.  The  suppression  of  that  insurrection 
accomplished  that  result.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  maintained  by  force 
of  arms  the  supreme  authority  over  ail  the  territory  and  over  all  the  States  and  people 
within  its  jurisdiction  which  the  Constitution  confers  upon  it  ;  but  it  acquired  thereby 
no  new  power,  no  enlarged  jurisdiction,  no  rights,  either  of  territorial  possession  or  of 
civil  authority,  which  it  did  not  possess  before  the  rebellion  broke  out.  Ail  the  right 
ful  power  it  can  ever  possess  is  that  which  is  conferred  upon  it  in  express  terms,  or  by 
fair  and  necessary  implication,  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  It  was  that 
)ower  and  that  authority  which  the  rebellion  sought  to  overthrow,  and  the  victory  of 
he  Federal  arms  was  simply  the  defeat  of  that  attempt. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  acted  throughout  the  war  on  the  del^ive. 

sought  only  to  hold  possession  of  what  was  already  its  own.  Neither  the  war,  nor 
Jxe  victory  by  which  it  was  ended,  changed  in  any  way  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  The  war  waa  carried  on  by  virtue  of  its  provisions  and  under  the  limitations 
which  they  prescribed,  and  the  result  of  the  war  did  not  either  enlarge,  abridge,  or  in 
aiay  way  change  or  affect  the  powers  it  confers  upon  the  Federal  Government,  or  re 
lease  that  Government  from  the  restrictions  which  it  ha.?  imposed. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  to-day  precisely  as  it  was  before  the  war — 

the  supreme  law  of  the  laud,  anything  in  the  constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to  the 

contrary  notwithstanding.    And  to-day  also,  precisely  as  before  the  war,  all  the  powers 

.   not  conferred  by  the  Constitution  upon  the  General  Government,  nor  prohibited  by  it 

U  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  several  States  or  to  the  people  thereof. 

This  position  is  vindicated  not  only  by  the  essential  nature  of  our  Government  £md 
the  language  and  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  but  by  all  the  acts  and  tho  language  of  our 
Government,  in  all  its  departments  and  at  all  times,  from  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion 
to  its  final  overthrow.  In  the  messages  and  proclamations  of  the  Executive  it  was 
explicitly  declared  that  the  sole  object  aud  purpose  of  the  war  was  to  maintain  the 
authority  of  the  Constitution  and  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  and  Congress 
more  than  once  reiterated  thia  solemn  declaration,  aud  added  the  assurance,  that  when 
ever  this  object  should  be  attained  the  war  should  cease,  and  all  the  States  should  re- 


tain  their  equal  rights  and  dignity  unimpaired.  It  is  only  since  the  war  Las  Closed  lli&t 
other  rights  have  been  asserted  cu  behalf  of  one  department  of  the  General  Government. 
It  has  been  proclaimed  by  Congress  that,  in  addition. to  the  powers  conferred  upon  it  by 
the  Constitution,  the  Federal  Government  may  now  claim  over  the  States  and  the  terri 
tory,  and  the  people  involved  in  the  insurrection,  the  rights  of  war — right  of  conquest 
and  of  confiscation,  the  right  to  abrogate  all  existing  governments,  institutions,  and 
laws,  and  to  subject  the  territory  conquered  and  its  inhabitants  to  such  terms  and 
regulations  as  the  legislative  department  of  the  Government  may  see  fit  to  impose, 
Trader  the  broad  and  sweeping  claim  that  the  clause  of  the  Constitution  which  pro 
vides  that  no  State  shall,  without  its  consent,  be  deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  has  been  annulled  ;  and  States  have  been  refused,  and  are 
still  refused,  representation  altogether  in  both  branches  of  the  Federal  Congress  ;  and 
the  Congress  in  which  only  a  part  of  the  States  and  of  the  people  of  the  Union  are 
represented  has  asserted  the  right  to  exclude  others  from  representation  and  from  all 
share  in  making  their  own  laws  and  choosing  their  own  rulers,  unless  they  shall  com 
ply  with  such  conditions  and  perform  such  acts  as  this  Congress,  thus  composed,  may 
itself  prescribe.  That  right  has  not  onl}-  been  asserted,  but  it  has  been  exercised,  and 
is  practically  enforced  at  the  present  time.  Nor  does  it  find  any  support  in  the  cry  that 
the  States  thus  excluded  are  in  rebellion  against  the  Government,  and  are  therefore 
precluded  from  sharing  its  authority.  They  are  not  thus  in  rebellion.  They  are  one 
and  all  in  an  attitude  of  loyalty  towards  the  Government,  and  of  sworn  allegiani/e  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  In  none  of  them  is  there  the  slightest  indication 
of  resistance  to  this  authority,  or  the  slightest  protest  against  its  just  and  binding 
obligations.  This  condition  of  renewed  loyalty  has  been  officially  recognized  by  solemn 
proclamation  of  the  Executive  Department.  The  laws  of  the  United  States  have  been 
extended  by  Congress  over  all  these  States,  and  the  people  thereof.  Federal  courts  have 
been  reopened,  and  Federal  taxes  imposed  and  levied,  and  in  every  respect,  except  that 
they  are  denied  representation  in  Congress  and  the  Electoral  College,  the  States  once  in 
rebellion  are  recognized  as  holding  the  same  obligations  and  subject  to  the  same  duties 
as  the  ether  States  of  our  common  Union. 

It  seems  to  us,  in  the  t- xercise  of  the  calmest  and  most  candid  judgment  we  can 
bring  to  the  subject,  such  a  claim  so  enforced  involves  as  fatal  an  overthrow  of  the 
•authority  of  the  Constitution,  and  as  complete  a  destruction  of  the  Government  and 
Union,  as  that  which  was  sought  to  be  effected  by  the  States  and  people  in  armed  in 
surrection  against  them.  It  cannot  escape  observation,  that  the  power  thus  asserted  to 
exclude  certain  States  from  representation  is  made  to  rest  wholly  in  the  will  and  dis 
cretion  of  the  Congress  that  asserts  it.  It  is  not  made  to  depend  upon  specified  con 
ditions  or  circumstances,  not  to  be  subject  to  any  rules  or  regulations  whatever.  The 
right  asserted  and  exercised  is  absolute,  without  qualification  or  restriction,  not  con 
fined  to  States  in  rebellion,  nor  to  States  that  have  rebelled.  It  is  the  right  of  auy  Con 
gress,  in  formal  possession  of  legislative  authority,  to  exclude  any  State  or  States,  and 
auy  portion  of  the  people  thereof,  at  any  time  from  representation  in  Congress,  and  in 
the  Electoral  College,  at  its  own  discretion,  and  until  they  shall  perform  such  acts  and 
comply  with  such  conditions  as  it  may  dictate.  Obviously,  the  reasons  for  such  exclu 
sion  benig  wholly  within  the  discretion  of  Congress,  may  change  as  the  Congress  itself 
shall  change. 

One  Congress  may  exclude  a  State  from  all  share  in  the  Government  for  one  reason 
and  that  reason  removed,  th»e  noxt  Congress  may  exclude  it  for  another.  One  Stati 
may  be  excluded  on  one  ground  to-day,  and  another  may  be  excluded  on  the  oppositi 
ground  to-morrow.  Northern  ascendency  may  exclude  Southern  States  from  COH 
gress — the  ascendency  of  Western  or  Southern  interests,  or  of  both  combined,  niaj 
exclude  the  Northern  or  the  Eastern  States  from  the  next. 

Improbable  as  such  usurpations  may  seem,  the  establishment  of  the  principles  now 
assorted  and  acted  upon  by  Congress  will  render  them  by  no  means  impossible.  The 
character,  indeed,  the  very  existence  of  Congress  and  the  Union,  is  thus  made  depen 
dent  solely  and  entirely  upon  the  party  and  sectional  exigencies  or  forbearance  of  the 
hour.  We  need  not  stop  to  show  that  such  action  not  only  finds  no  warrant  in  the 
Constitution,  but  is  at  war  with  every  principle  of  our  Government  and  with,  the  very 
existence  of  free  institutions.  It  is,  indeed,  the  identical  practice  which  has  rendered 
fruitless  all  attempts  hitherto  to  establish  and  maintain  free  governments  in  Mexico- 
and  Hie  States  of  South  America.  Party  necessities  assert  themselves  as  superior  to 
fundamental  law,  which  is  set  aside  in  reckless  obedience  to  their  behests.  Stability, 
whether  in  t.hr-  exercise  of  power  in  the  administration  of  government  or  in  the  enjoy 
ment  of  rig«)tf.,  becomes  impossible,  and  the  conflicts  of  party,  which  under  constitu 
tional  government  are  the  conditions  and  means  of  political  progress,  are  merged  in  the 
conflicts  of  armn.  t<;  which  they  directly  and  inevitably  tend. 


20 

It  wa*j  against  this  peril,  so  conspicuous,  and  so  fatal  to  all  free  governments,  that 
-our  Constitution  was  intended  especially  to  provide.  Not  only  the  stability,  but  the 
very  existence  of  the  Government  is  made  by  its  provisions  to  depend  upon  the  right 
and  the  fact  of  representation.  The  Congress,  upon  which  is  conferred  all  the  legisla 
tive  power  of  National  Government,  consists  of  two  branches — the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives — whose  joint  concurrence  or  assent  is  essential  to  the  validity  of  any 
law.  Of  these  the  House  of  Representatives,  says  the  Constitution,  ("Article  1st,  sec 
tion  2d, )  shall  be  composed  of  members  chosen  every  second  year  by  the  people  of  the 
several  States.  Not  only  is  the  right  of  representation  thus  recognized  as  possessed  by 
all  the  States  and  by  every  State,  without  restriction,  qualification,  or  condition  of  any 
kind,  but  the  duty  of  choosing  Representatives  is  imposed  upon  the  people  of  each  and 
every  State  alike,  without  distinction  or  the  authority  to  make  distinction  among 
them  for  any  reason  or  upon  any  grounds  whatever.  And  in  the  Senate,  so  careful  is 
the  Constitution  to  seciwe  to  every  State  this  right  of  representation,  it  is  expressly 
provided  that  no  State  shall,  without  its  consent,  be  deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in 
that  body,  even  by  amendment  to  the  Constitution  itself.  When,  therefore,  any  State 
is  excluded  from  such  representation,  not  only  is  the  right  of  the  State  denied,  but  the 
constitutional  integrity  of  the  Senate  is  impaired,  and  the  validity  of  the  Government 
itself  is  brought  in  question.  But  Congress  at  the  present  moment  thus  excludes  from 
representation  in  both  branches  of  Congress  ten  States  of  the  Union,  denying  them  all 
share  in  the  enactment  of  laws  by  which  they  are  to  be  governed,  and  all  participa 
tion  in  the  election  of  the  rulers  by  which  those  laws  are  to  be  enforced.  In  other 
words,  a  Congress  in  which  only  twenty-six  States  are  represented  asserts  the  right  to 
govern,  absolutely  and  in  its  own  discretion,  all  the  thirty-six  States  which  compose 
the  Union  ;  to  make  their  laws  and  choose  their  rulers,  and  to  exclude  the  other  ten 
from  all  share  in  their  own  government,  until  it  sees  fit  to  admit  them  thereto.  What 
is  there  to  distinguish  the  power  thus  asserted  and  exercised  from  the  most  absolute 
and  intolerate  tyranny  ?  Nor  do  these  extravagant  and  unjust  claims  on  the  part  of 
Congress  to  powers  and  authority  never  conferred  upon  the  Government  by  the  Con 
stitution,  find  any  warrant  in  the  arguments  or  excuses  urged  on  their  behalf.  It 
is  alleged — 

First.  That  these  States,  by  the  act  of  rebellion  and  by  voluntarily  withdrawing 
their  members  from  Congress,  forfeited  their  right  of  representation,  and  that  they 
can  only  receive  it  again  at  the  hands  of  the  supreme  legislative  authority  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  on  its  own  terms  and  at  its  own  discretion.  If  representation  in  Congress, 
and  participation  in  the  Government,  were  simply  privileges  conferred  and  held  by 
favor,  this  statement  might  have  the  merit  of  plausibility.  But  representation  is,  un 
der  the  Constitution,  not  only  expressly  recognized  as  a  right,  but  it  is  imposed  as  a 
duty,  and  it  is  essential  in  both  aspects  to  the  existence  of  the  Government  and  to  the 
maintenance  of  its  authority.  In  free  Governments  fundamental  and  essential  rights 
cannot  be  forfeited,  except  against  individuals  by  due  process  of  law  ;  nor  can  consti 
tutional  duties  and  obligations  be  discarded  or  laid  aside.  The  enjoyment  of  rights 
may  be  for  a  time  suspended  by  the  failure  to  claim  them,  and  duties  may  be  evaded 
by  the  refusal  to  perform  them.  The  withdrawal  of  their  members  from  Congress  by 
the  States  which  resisted  the  General  Government  was  among  their  acts  of  insurrec 
tion — was  one  of  the  means  and  agencies  by  which  they  sought  to  impair  the  authority 
and  defeat  the  action  of  the  Government ;  and  that  act  was  annulled  and  rendered  void 
when  the  insurrection  itselt  was  suppressed.  Neither  the  right  of  representation  nor 
the  duty  to  be  represented  was  in  the  least  impaired  by  the  fact  of  insurrection  ;  but 
it  may  have  been  that,  by  reason  of  the  insurrection,  the  conditions  on  which  the  en 
joyment  of  that  right  and  the  permanence  of  that  duty  for  the  time  depended  could 
not  be  fulfilled.  This  was,  in  fact,  the  case.  An  insurgent  power,  in  the  exercise  of 
usurped  and  unlawful  authority  in  the  territory  under  its  control,  had  prohibited  that 
allegiance  to  the  Constitution  and -laws  of  the  United  States  which  is  made  by  that 
fundamental  law  the  essential  condition  of  representation  in  Government.  No  man 
within  the  insurgent  States  was  allowed  to  take  the  oath  to  support  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  and,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  no  man  could  lawfully  repre 
sent  those  States  in  the  councils  of  the  Union.  But  this  was  only  an  obstacle  to  the 
enjoyment  of  the  right  and  to  the  discharge  of  a  duty  ;  it  did  not  annul  the  one  nor 
abrogate  the  other,  and  it  ceased  to  exist  when  the  usurpation  by  which  it  was  created 
had  been  overthrown,  and  the  States  had  again  resumed  their  allegiance  to  the  Consti 
tution  and  laws  of  the  United  States. 

Second.  But  it  is  asserted  in  support  of  the  authority  claimed  by  the  Congress  now 
in  possession  of  power,  that  it  flows  directly  from  the  laws  of  war ;  that  it  is  among 
the  rights  which  victorious  war  always  confers  upon  the  conquerors,  and  which  the 
conqueror  may  exercise  or  waive,  in  his  own  discretion.  To  this  we  reply,  that  the 


21 

laws  in  question  re-late  solely,  so  far  as  the  rights  they  confer  are  concerned,  to  wars 
waged  between  alien  and  independent  nations,  and  can  have  no  place  or  force  in  this 
regard  in  a  war  waged  by  a  government  to  suppress  an  insurrection  of  it?  own  people, 
.upon  its  own  soil,  against  its  authority.  If  we  had  carried  on  successful  war  against 
any  foreign  nation,  we  might  thereby  have  acquired  possession  and  jurisdiction  of 
their  soil,  with  the  right  to  enforce  our  laws  upon  their  people,  and  to  impose  upon 
them  such  laws  and  .such  obligations  as  we  might  choose.  But  we  had,  before  the 
war,  complete  jurisdiction  over  the  soil  of -the  Southern  States,  limited  only  by  our 
own  Constitution.  Our  laws  were  the  only  national  laws  in  force  upon  it.  The  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States  was  the  only  Government  through  which  those  States 
and  their  people  had  relations  with  foreign  nations,  and  its  Hug  was  the  only  nag  by 
which  they  were  recognized  or  known  anywhere  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  In  all 
these  respects,  and  in  all  other  respects  involving  national  interests  and  rights,  our 
possession  was  perfect  and  complete.  It  did  not  need  to  be  acquired,  but  only  to  be 
maintained:  and  victorious  war  against  the  rebellion  could  do  nothing  more  than 
maintain  it.  It  could  only  vindicate  and  reestablish  the  disputed  supremacy  of  the 
Constitution.  It  could  neither  enlarge  nor  diminish  pie  authority  which  that  Consti 
tution  confers  upon, the  Government  by  which  it  was  achieved.  Such  an  enlargement 
or  abridgment  of  constitutional  power  can  bo  effected  only  by  amendment  of  the  Con 
stitution  itself,  and  such  amendment  can  be  made  only  in  the  modes  which  the  Con 
stitution  itself  prescribes. 

The  claim  that  the.  suppression  of  an  insurrection  against  the  Government  gives  ad 
ditional  authority  and  power  to  that  Government,  especially  that  it  enlarges  the  juris 
diction  of  Congress  and  gives  that  body  the  right  to  exclude  States  from  representation 
in  the  National  Councils,  without  which  the  nation  itself  can  have  no  authority  and  no 
existence,  sqpms  to  us  at  variance  alike  with  the  principles  of  the  Constitution  and  with 
the  public  safety. 

Tkird.  But  it  is  alleged  that  in  certain  particulars  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  fails  to  secure  the  absolute  justice  and  impartial  equality  which  the  principles  of 
our  Government  require  ;  that  it  was  in  these  respects  the  result  of  compromises  and 
concessions  to  which,  however  necessary  when  the  Constitution  was  formed,  we  are  no 
longer  compelled  to  submit  ;  and  that  now,  having  ti§e  power  through  successful  war, 
and  just  warrant  for  its  exercise  in  the  hostile  conduct  of  the  insurgent  section,  the 
actual  Government  of  the  United  States  may  impose  its  own  conditions  and  make  the 
Constitution  conform  in  all  its  provisions,  to  its  own  ideas  of  equality  and  the  rights  of 
war.  Congress,  at  its  last  session,  proposed  amendments  to  the  Constitution,  enlarg 
ing,  in  some  very  important  particulars,  the  authority  of  the  General  Government  over 
that  of  the  several  States,  and  reducing,  by  indirect  disfranchisement,  the  representa 
tive  power  of  the  States  in  which  slavery  formerly  existed  ;  and  it  is  claimed  that  these 
.amendments  may  be  made  valid  as  parts  of  the  original  Constitution  without  the  con 
currence  of  the  States  to  be  most  seriously  affected  by  them,  or  may  fee  imposed  upon 
those  States  by  three-fourths  of  the--feinaining  States,  as  conditions  of  their  readmis- 
sion  to  representation  in  Congress  and  in  the  Electoral  College. 

It  is  the  unquestionable  right  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  make  such  changes 
in  the  Constitution  as  they  upon  due  deliberation  may  deem  expedient.  But  we  insist 
that  they  shall  be  made  in  the  mode  which  the  Constitution  itself  points  out,  in  con 
formity  with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  that  instrument,  and  with  the  principles  of  self-gov 
ernment  and  of  equal  rights  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  our  republican  institutions.  We 
deny  the  right  of  Congress  to  make  these  changes  i,n  the  fundamental  law  without  the 
concurrence  of  three-fourths  of  all  the  States,  including  especially  those  to  be  most 
seriously  affected  by  them,  .or  to  impose  them  upon  States  or  people  as  conditions  of 
representation  or  of  admission  to  any  of  the  rights,  duties,  or  obligations  which  belong, 
under  the  Constitution,  to  all  the  State,s  alike  ;  and  with  still  greater  emphasis  do  we 
deny  the  right  of  any  portion  of  the  States,  excluding  the  rest  of  the  States  from  any 
share  in  their  councils,  to  propose  or  sanction  changes  in  the  Constitution  which  are  to 
affect  permanently  their  political  relations,  and  control  or  coerce  the  legitimate  action 
of  the  several  members  of  tke  common  Union.  Such  an  exercise  of  power  is  simply  a 
usurpation,  just  as  unwarrantable  wheu  exercised  by  Northern  States  as  it  would  be  if 
exercised  by  Southern,  and  not  to  be  fortified  or  palliated  by  anything  in  the  past  his 
tory  either  of  those  by  whom  it  is  attempted  or  of  those  upon  whose  rights  and  liber 
ties  it  is  to  take  effect.  It  finds  no  warrant  in  the  Constitution.  It  is  at  war  with  the 
fundamental  principles  of  our  form  of  government.  If  tolerated  in  one  instance  it  be 
comes  the  precedent  for  future  invasions  of  liberty  and  constitutional  right,  dependent 
solely  upon  the  will  of  the  party  in  possession  of  power,  and  thus  leads  by  direct  and 
.  necessary  sequence  to  the  most  fatal  and  intolerable  of  all  tyrannies,  the  tyranny  of 
shifting  and  irresponsible  political  faction?.  It  is  against  this,  the  most  formidable  of  all 


22 


!\    t 


the  dangers  which  menace  the  stability  of  free  government,  that  the  Constitution  o-f 
tfce  United  States  was  intended  most  carefully  to  provide.  We  demand  a  strict  and 
steadfast  adherence  to  its  provisions.  In  this,  and  in  this  alone,  can  \re  find  a  l-)asis  of 
permanent  union  and  peace. 

Fourth.  But  it  is  alleged,  in  justification  of  the  usurpation  which  we  condemn,  that 
;  the  condition  of  the  Southern  States  and  people  is  not  such  as  renders  safe  their  re-ad 
mission  to  a  share  in  the  government  of  the  country  ;  that  they  are  still  disloyal  in 
sentiment  and  purpose,  and  that  neither  the  honor,  the  credit,  nor  the  interests  of  the 
Nation  would  be  safe  if  they  were  re-admitted  to  share  in  its  councils.  We  might  reply 
to  this  — 

First.  That  we  have  no  right  for  such  reasons  to  deny  to  any  portion  of  the  States 
or  people  rights  expressly  conferred  upon  them  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

Second.  That  so  long  as  their  acts  are  those  of  loyalty  ;  so  long  as  they  conform  in 
all  their  public  conduct  to  the  requirements  of  the  Constitution  and  laws,  we  have  no- 
right  to  exact  from  them  conformity  to  their  sentiments  and  opinions  to  our  own. 

Uiird.  That  we  have  no  right  to  distrust  the  purpose  or  the  ability  of  the  people  of 
the  Union  to  protect  and  defend,  under  all  contingencies,  and  by  whatever  means  may 
l>e  required,  its  honor  and  its  welfare.  These  would,  in  our  judgment,  be  full  and 
conclusive  answers  to  the  plea  thus  advanced  for  the  exclusion  of  these  States  from  the 
Union.  But  we  say,  further,  that  this  plea  rests  upon  a  complete  misapprehension,  or 
an  unjust  perversion  of  existing  facts.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  there  is  no 
section  of  the  country  where  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  lind  a  more 
prompt  and  entire  obedience  than  in  those  States  and  among  those  people  who  were 
lately  in  arms  against  them,  or  where  there  is  less  purpose  or  danger^bf  any  future 
attempt  to  overthrow  their  authority. 

It  would  seem  fo  be  rational  and  inevitable  that  in  States  and  sections  so  recently 
swept  by  the  whirlwind  of  war,  where  nil  the  ordinary  modes  and  methods  of  organized 
industry  have^been  broken  up,  and  the  bords  and  influence  that  guarantee  social  order 
have  been  destroyed  ;  where  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  turbulent  spirits  have 
been  suddenly  loosed  from  the*  discipline  of  war,  and  thrown  without  resources  or 
restraint  upon  a  disorganized  and  chaotic  society,  and  when  the  keen  sense  of  defeat 
is  added  to  the  ox^rtlirow  of  ambition  and  hope,  scenes  of  violence  should  defy  for  a 
time  the  imperfect  discipline  of  law  and  excite  anew  the  fears  and  forebodings  of  the 
patriotic  and  well  disposed.  It  is  unquestionably  true  that  local  disturbances  of  this 
kind,  accompanied  by  more  or  less  of  violence,  do  still  occur.  But  they  are  confined 
entirely  to  the  cities  and  larger  towns  of  the  Southern  States,  where  different  races 
and  interests  are  brought  most  closely  in  contact,  and  where  passions  and  resentment 
are  always  most  easily  fed  and  fanned  into  outbreak  ;  and  even  that  they  are  quite  as 
much  the  fruit  of  untimely  and  hurtful  political  agitation,  as  of  any  hostility  on  the 
part  of  the  people  to  the  authority  of  the  National  Government.  But  the  concurrent 
testimony  of  those  best  acquainted  with  the  condition  of  society  and  the  state  of  public 
sentiment  in  the  Sotith,  including  that  of  its  representatives  in  this  Convention,  estab 
lishes  the  fact  that  the  great  mass  of  the  Southern  people  accept,  with  as  full  and  sin 
cere  submission  as  do  the  people  of  the  other  States,  the  re-established  supremacy  of 
the  national  authority,  and  are  prepared,  in  the  most  loyal  spirit,  and  with  a  zeal 
quickened  alike  by  their<iiiterest  and  their  pride,  and  co-operate  with  other  States  and 
sections  in  whatever  may  be  necessary  to  defend  the  rights,  maintain  the  honor,  and 
promote  the  welfare  of  our  common  country. 

History  affords  no  instance  where  a  people  so  powerful  in  numbers,  in  resources,  and 
in  public  spirit,  after  a  war  so  long  in  its  duration,  so  destructive  in  its  progress,  and 
so  adverse  in  its  issue,  have  accepted  defeat  and  its  consequences  with  so  much  of  good 
faith  as  has  marked  the  conduct  of  the  people  lately  in  insurrection  against  the  United 
States.  Beyond  all  question  this  has  been  largely  due  to  the  wise  generosity  with 
which  their  enforced  surrender  was  accepted  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  generals  in  immediate  command  of  our  armies,  and  to  the  liberal  measures  which- 
were  afterwards  taken  to  restore  order,  tranquillity,  and  law,  to  the  States  where  all 
had  for  the  time  been  overthrown.  No  st«p  could  have  been  better  calculated  to  com 
mand  the  respect,  win  the  confidence,  revive  the  patriotism,  and  sesure  the  permanent 
and  affectionate  allegiance  of  the  people  of  the  South  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of 
the  Union  than  those  which  have  been  so  iirmly  taken  and  so  steadfastly  pursued  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States. 

And  if  that  confidence  and  loyalty  has  been  since  impaired,  if  the  people  South  are 
to-day  less  candid  in  that  allegiance  than  they  were  immediately  upon  the  close  of  the 
war,  we  believe  it  is  due  to  the  changed  tone  of  the  Legislative  Department  of  the 
General  Government  towards  them  ;  to  the  action  by  which  Congress  has  endeavored 


23 

to  suppress  and  defeat  the  President's  wise  and  beneficial  policy  of  restoration;  to 
their  exclusion  from  all  participation  in  our  common  Government ;  to  the  withdrawal 
from  them  of  the  rights  conferred  and  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution,  and  to  the  evi 
dent  purpose  of  Congress,  in  the  exercise  of  an  usurped  and  unlawful  authority,  to  re 
duce  them  from  the  ranks  of  free  and  equal  members  of  a  republic  of  States,  with 
nghts  and  dignities  unimpaired,  to  the  condition  of  conquered  provinces  and  a  con 
quered  people,  in  all  things  subservient  and  subject  to  the  will  of  their  conquerors, 
free  only  to  obey  laws  in  making  which  they  are  not  allowed  to  share.  No  people  has 
ever  yet  existed  whose  loyalty  and  faith  such  treatment,  long  continued,  would  not 
alienate  and  impair.  And  the  ten  millions  of  Americans  who  live  in  the  South  would 
be  unworthy  citizens  of  a  free  country,  degenerate  sons'  of  an, heroic  ancestry — unfit 
•ever  to  become  guardians  of  the  rights  and  liberties  bequeathed  to  us  by  the  fathers 
and  founders  of  this  Republic — if  they  could  accept,  with  uncomplaining  submissive- 
ness,  the  humiliations  thus  sought  to  be  imposed  upon  them.  Resentment  of  injus 
tice  is  always  and  everywhere  essential  to  freedom,  and  the  spirit  which  prompts  the 
States  and  people  lately  in  insurrection — insurgents  now  no  longer — to  protest  against 
the  imposition  of  unjust  and  degrading  conditions,  makes  them  all  the  more  worthy  to 
share  in  the  government  of  a  free  commonwealth,  and  gives  still  firpier  assurance  of 
the  future  power  and  freedom  of  the  Republic;  for  whatever  responsibility  the  South 
ern  people  may  have  incurred  in  resisting  the  authority  of  the  National  Government, 
and  in  taking  up,  arms  for  its  overthrow,  they  may  be  held  to  answer  for  as  individuals 
before  th«  judicial  tribunals  of  the  land,  and  for  their  conduct  as  societies  and  organ 
ized  communities  they  have  already  paid  the  most  fearful  penalty  that  can  fall  on 
offending  States,  in  the  losses,  the  sufferings,  and  humiliations  of  unsuccessful  war. 
But  whatever  may  be  the  guilt  or  the  punishment  of  the  conscious  authors'  of  the  in 
surrection,  candor  and  common  justice  demand  concession  to  the  great  mass  of  those 
who  became  involved  in  its  risks,  and  acted  upon  what  they  deemed  to  be  their  duty, 
and  in  defence  of  what  they  had  been  taught  to  believe  were  their  rights,  or  under  a 
compulsion,  physical  and  moral,  which  they  were  powerless  to>  resist.  Nor  can  it  be 
amiss  to  remember  that,  terrible  as  have  been  the  bereavements  and  the  losses  of  this* 
war,  they  have  fallen  exclusively  upon  neither  section  and  upon  neither  party;  that\ 
they  have  fallen,  indeed,  with  far  greater  weight  upon  those  with  whom  the  war  be 
gun  ;  that  in  the  death  of  relatives  and  friends,  the  dispersion  of  families,  the  disrup-/ 
tion  of  social  systems  and  social  ties,  the  overthrow  of  governments,  of  law  and  of 
order,  the  destruction  of  property  and  of  forms  and  modes  and  means  of  industry,  the 
loss  of  political,  commercial,  and  moral  influence  in  any  shap.e  and  form — which,  great 
calamities  we  are  sure  the  States  and  people  which  engaged  in  the  war  against  th.e 
Government  of  the  United  States  have  suffered  tenfold  more  than  those  who  remained 
in  allegiance  to  its  Constitution  and  laws.  These  considerations  may  not,  a^-  they  cer 
tainly  do  not,  justify  the  action  of  the  people  of  the  insurgent  States  :  *but  ne>  humane, 
generous  mind  will  refuse  to  them  very  considerable  weight  in  deternjimng  the  line  of 
conduct  which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  should  pursue  towards  thern^ 
They  accept,  if  not  with  alacrity,  certainly  without  sullen  resentment,  the  defeat  and" 
overthrow  they  have  sustained.  They  acknowledge  and  acquiesce  in  the  results  to 
themselves  and  the  country  which  that  defeat  involves  ;  they  no  longer  claim  for  any 
State  the  right  to  secede  from  the  Union ;  they  no  longer  assert  for  any  State  an  alle 
giance  paramount  to  that  which  is  due  to  the  General  Government.  They  have  ac 
cepted  the  destruction  of  slavery — abolished  it  by  their  State  constitutions — and  con 
curred  with  the  States  and  people  of  the  whole  Union  in  prohibiting  its  existence 
forever  npon  the  soil  or  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States.  They  indicate 
and  evince  their  purpose,  just  so  fast  as  may  be  possible  and  safe,  to  adapt  their  do 
mestic  laws  to  the  ckanged  condition  of  their  society,  and  to  secure  by  the  la\v  and  its 
tribunals  equal  and  impartial  justice  to  all  classes  of  their  inhabitants.  They  admit 
the  invalidity  of  all  acts  of  resistance  to  the  national  authority  and  of  all  debts  in 
curred  in  attempting  its  overthrow.  They  avow  their  willingness  to  share  the  burden! 
and  discharge  all  the  duties  and  obligations  which  rest  upon  ttiern  in  common  with 
other  States  and  other  sections  of  the  Union ;  and  they  renew,  through  their  repre 
sentatives  in  this  Convention,  by  all  their  public  conduct  in  every  way,  and  by  the 
more  solemn  acts  by  which*  States  and  societies  can  pledge  their  faith  and  allegiance, 
through  all  time  to  come,  to  the  Constitution  of  tho  Uuited  States,  and  to  all  laws 
which  may  be  made  in  pursuance  thereof. 

Fellow-countrymen,  we  call  upon  you,  in  full  reliance  upon  your  intelligence  and 
your  patriotism,  to  aeropt  with  generous  and  ungrudging  confidence  the  full  surrender 
ou  the  part  of  those  lately  in  arms  against  your  authority,  and  to  share  with  them  the 
honor  and  renown  that  await  those  who  bring  back  peace  and  concord  to  jar  ring  States. 
The  war  just  closotl,  with  its  sorrows  and  disasters,  has  opened  a  new  career  of  glory 


•w 

I 


24 

0*   •;  CEO?-)*'.  .'  »'.          *    i;>'.»i.  ~-<fit  '*    ~.  ' '>!  A^i    .•:•'!'  ,'.    ; .  >~fj«jri>  i.j 

to  the  nation  it  has  saved.  It  has  swept  away  the  hostilities  of  sentiment  and  oi 
interest  which  wero  a  standing  menace  to  its  peace.  It  has  destroyed  the  institution  of 
slavery,  always  a  cause  of  sectional  agitation  and  strife,  and  has  opened  for  our  coun 
try  the  way  to  unity  of  interest,  of  principle,  and  of  action  through  ail  time  to  come. 
It  has  developed  in  both  sections  a  military  capacity  and  aptitute  for  achievements  of 
war,  both  by  sea  and  by  land,  before  unknown  even  to  ourselves,  and  destined  to  ex 
ercise  hereafter^  under  united  Councils,  an  important  influence  upon  the  character  and 
destiny  of  the  continent  and  the  world.  And  while  it  has  thus  revealed,  disciplined, 
compacted  our  power,  it  has  proven  to  us,  beyond  controversy  or  doubt,  by  the  course 
pursued  towards  both  contending  sections  by  foreign  powers,  that  we  must  be  the 
guardana  of  our  own  independence,  and  that  the  principles  of  republican  freedom  we 
represent  can  find  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  no  friends  or  defenders  but  our 
selves. 

We  call  upon  you,  therefore,  by  every  consideration  of  your  own  dignity  and  safety, 
and  in  the  name  of  liberty  throughout  the  world,  to  complete  the  work  of  restoration 
and  peace  which  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  so  well  begun,  and  by  which 
the  policy  adopted  and  the  principles  asserted  by  the  present  Congress  alone  obstruct. 

The  time  is  close  at  hand  when  the  members  of  a  new  Congress  are  to  be  elected. 
If  that  Congress  shall  perpetuate  this  policy,  and  by  excluding  loyal  States  and  people 
from  representation  in  its  halls  shall  continue  the  usurpation  by  which  the  legislative 
powers  of  the  Government  are  now  exercised,  common  prudence  compels  us  to  antici 
pate  augmented  discontent,  a  sullen  withdrawal  from  the  duties  and  obligations  of  the 
Federal  Government,  internal  dissension,  and  a  general  collision  of  sentiments  and 
pretensions  which  may  renew  in  a  still  more  fearful  shape  the  civil  war  from  which  we 
have  just  emerged  We  call  upon  you  to  interpose  your  power  to  prevent  the  recur 
rence  of  so  transcendent  a  calamity.  We  call  upon  you  in  every  Congresssional  dis 
trict  of  every  State  to  secure  the  election  of  members  who,  whatever  other  difference 
may  characterise  their  political  action,  will  unite  in  recognizing  the  right  of  every 
State  of  the  Union  to  representation  in  Congress,  and  who  will  admit  to  seats  in  either 
branch  of  every  loyal  Representative  from  every  State  in  allegiance  to  the  Government 
who  may  be  found  by  each  House,  in  the  exercise  of  the  power  conferred  upon  it  by 
the  Constitution,  to  have  been  duly  elected,  returned,  and  qualified  for  a  seat  therein. 

When  this  shall  have  been  done,  the  Government  will  have  been  restored  to  its 
integrity,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  will  have  been  re-established  in  its 
full  supremacy,  and  the  American  Union  will  have  again  become  what  it  was  designed 
to  be  by  those  who  formed  it — a  sovereign  nation,  composed  of  separate  States,  like 
itself  moving  in  a  distinct  and  independent  sphere,  exercising  powers  defined  and 
reserved  by  a  common  Constitution,  and  resting  upon  the  assent,  the  confidence,  and 
co-operation  of  all  the  States  and  all  the  people  subject-  to  its  authority.  Thus  reor 
ganized  and  restored  to  their  constitutional  relations,  the  States  and  the  General  Gov 
ernment  can  enter  in  a  fraternal  spirit,  with  a  common  purpose  and  a  common  interest, 
upon  whatever  reforms  the  security  of  personal  rights,  the  enlargement  of  personal 
liberty,  and  the  perfection  of  our  republican  institutions  may  demand. 

-APPOINTMENT  OF  COMMITTEES. 

The  Chair  here  announced  the  following  names  as  constituting  the  National  Union 
Executive  Committee,  the  resident  Executive  Committee  at  Washington,  the  Commit 
tee  to  Wait  on  the  President,  and  the  Financial  Committee  : 

COMMITTEE  TO  WAIT  ON  THE  PRESIDENT. 

Hon.  REVERDY  JOESSON,  Chairman  ;  Maine, 'W.  G.  Crosby,  Calvin  Record  ;  New  Hamp 
shire,  J.  Hosley,  J.  H.  Smith ;  Vermont,  L.  Robinson,  General  Isaac  McDaniel  ;  Massa 
chusetts,  E.  C.  Bailey,  Edward  Avery  ;  Rhode  Island,  Amasa  Sprague,  Gideon  Bradford  ; 
Connecticut,  Jas.  E.  English,  G.  H.  Hollister;  New  York,  Vivus  Wi  Smith,  S.  E.  Church  ; 
New  Jersey,  T.  H.  Herring,  General  Theodore  Runyon  ;  Pennsylvania,  J.  R.  Flanigan, 
George  W.  Cass ;  Delaware,  Saxe-Gotha  Laws,  C.  H.  B.  Day  ;  Maryland,  J,  Morrison 
Harris,  Isaac  D.  Jones  ;  Virginia,  Hon.  James  Bra-bour,  G.  W.  Boiling ;  West  Virginia, 
John  J.  Thompson,  Daniel  Lamb  ;  North  Carolina,  D.  M,  Barringer,  G.  Howard ;  South 
Carolina,  J.  L.  Manning.  James  Farrow  ;.  Georgia,  S.  J.  Smith,  J.  L.  Wimberly ;  Florida, 
J.  P.  Sanderson,  J.  C.  McKibben  :  Mississippi,  Giles  M.  Hillyer,  H.  F.  Simrall ;  Louisiana, 
T.  P.  May,  William  H.  C.  King  ;  Texas,  D.  J.  Burnett,  B.  H.  Epperson  ;  Tennessee,  A. 

A.  Kyle,  D.  B.  Thomas  :  Arkansas,  John  B.  Luce,  E.  C.  Boudinot ;  Alabama,  Lewis  K. 
Parsons,  John  Gill  Shorter;  Kentucky,  J.    W.    Stephenson,  A.  Harding;  Ohio,  Henry 

B.  Paine,  General  A.  McD.  McCook  ;  Indiana,  General  Sol.  Meredith,  David  8.  Gooding  : 
Illinois,   General  George  C.  Bates,  Hon.   W.  R.  Morrison ;  Michigan,   General  C.  0, 


25   ; 

Loomis,  Gtenoral  G.  A.  Ouster  ;  Wisconsin,  A.  W.  Curtis,  Robert  Flint ;  Iowa,  Colonel 
Cyrus  II.  Mackey,  B.  B.  Richards  ;  Kansas,  General  H.  S.  Sleeper,  Orlin  Thurston ; 
California,  J.  A.  McDougall,  Colonel  Jacob  P.  Leese  ;  Nevada,  Gideon  J.  Tucker,  Johu 
Carmichael  ;  Oregon,  W.  H.  Farrar,  E.  M.  Barnum  ;  District  of  Columbia,  Thomas  B. 
Florence,  B.  T.  Swart  ;  Idaho.  Hon.  H.  H.  DePuy,  S.  Cummins  ;  Nebraska,  George  L. 
Miller,  L.  Lowrie  ;  Wash-ing  ton,  George  9.  Cole,  C.  P.  Egan  ;  Minrifsota,  H.  M.  Rice. 

D.  S.  Norton  :  Missouri,  E.  A.  Lewis.  John  M.  Richardson  ;  Dakotah,  D.  T,   Bramble, 
L.  D.  Farmer. 

NATIONAL  CXiOtf    EXECUTIVE   COMMITTEE. 

JOSEPH  T.  CROWELL,  Chairman  :  Maine,  James  Maan,  A.  P.  Gould;  New  Hampshire, 
'Edmund  Burke,  E.  S.  Cutter;  Vermont,  B.  D.  Smaliey,  Colonel  IL  N.  Worthan ;  Mas 
sachusetts,  Josiah  Dunham,  R.  S.  Spofford ;  Rhode  Island,  Alfred  Anthony,  James  H. 
Parsons;  Connecticut,  James  T.  Baboock,  D.  C.  Scranton  ;  New  York,  Robert  H.  Pruyn, 
Samuel  J.  Tilden ;  Pennsylvania,  S.  M.  Zulick,  J.  S.  Black  ;  Delaware,  J.  P.  Comegys, 

E.  L.  Martin  ;  Maryland,  T.  Swann,  T.  D.  Pratt ;  Virginia,  J.  F.  Johnson,  E.  C.  Robin 
son  ;  West  Virginia,  Daniel  Lamb,  John  J.  Jackson  ;  North  Carolina,  T.  S.  Ashe,  Joseph 
H.  Wilson  ;  South  Carolina,  J.  L.  Orr,  B.  F.  Perry  ;  Georgia,  J.  H. 'Christie,  T.  Harde- 
man  jr.  ;  Florida,  Hon.  William.  Marvin,  Hon.  Wilkinson  Call :  Alabama,  M.  H.  Cruik- 
shank,  C.  C.  Huckabee  ;  Mississippi,  William  L.  Sharkey,  G.  L.  Potter  ;  Louisiana,  Ran 
dall  Hunt,  Alfred  Hennen  ;  Arkansas,  Lorenzo  Gibson,  E.  H.  English  ;  Texas,  B.  H.  Ep 
person,  John  Hancock;  Tennessee,  Hon.  Di-vidT.JPattorson,  W.  D.  Campbell ;  Kentucky, 
R.  H.  Stanton,  Hamilton  Pope  ;  Ohio,  Lewis  D.  Campbell,  George  B.  Smythe  ;  Indiana, 
Hon.  David  S.  Gooding,  T.  Dowling ;  Illinois,  General  J.  A.  McClernand,  J.  0.  Norton; 
Michigan,  Alfred  Russell,  Byron  G.  Stout;  Missouri,  Barton  Able,  James  S.  Rollins  ; 
Minnesota,  H.  M.  Rice,  D.  S.  Norton;  Wisconsin,  S.   A.    Pease,  J.  A.  Noonan ;  Iowa, 
George  H.  Parker,  William  A.  Chase  ;  Kansas,  James  L.  McDowell,  W.  A.  Tipton ;  New 
Jersey,  Joseph  T.  Crowell,  Theo.  F.  Randolph  ;  Nevada,  John  Carmichael,  G.  B.  Hall ; 
District  of  Columbia,  J.  D.  Hoover,  J.  3.  Blake;  Nebraska,  H.  H.  Heath,  J.  S.  Morton  , 
Washington  Territory,  R.  Willard,  El  wood  Evans  ;  California,   Samuel  Furdy,  Joseph 
P.  Hoge  ;  Oregon,   J.  W.  Nesmith,  B.  F.  Bonhatn  :  Dakota,  W.  K.  Armstrong,  N.  W. 
Miner  ;  Idaho,  William  H.  Wallace,  Henry  Cummins. 

RESIDENT    BXECtmrS   COMMITTEE    AT    WASHINGTON. 

CHARI^SS  KNAP,  Chaix-rnan  ;  Hon.  Montgomery  Blair,  Hon.  Charles  Mason,  Ward  H. 
Lamon,  John  F.  Coyle,  A.  E.  Perry,  Samuel  Fowler,  Colonel  James  R.  O'Beirne, 
Cornelias  Wendell. 

COMMITTSa    ON    FiNAXCS. 

CHARLES  KNAP,  Chairman;  Maine,  A.  W.  Johnson,  Johu  Buiieigh ;  New  Hamp 
shire,  Daniel  Marcy,  W.  N.  Blair,  Vermont,  R.  W.  Chase,  G.  L.  Davenport;  Massa 
chusetts,  F.  0.  Prince,  George  M.  Bentley  ;  Rhode  Island,  Ainasa  Sprague,  James  Water- 
house  ;  Connecticut,  J.  II.  Ashmead-.  Freeman  M.  Brown ;  New  York,  Abraham.  Wake- 
man,  Eichard  Schell ;  New  Jersey,  J.  L.  McKught,  Franc-is  S.  Lathrop  ;  Pennsylvania, 
R.  L.  Martin.  Heury  M.  Phillips;  Delaware,  Charles  Wright,  T.  F.  Crawford;  Mary 
land,  R.  Fowler,  W.  P.  Mania  by  ;  Virginia,  Edmuud  W.  Hubbard,  George  Blow,  Jr. ; 
West  Virginia,  Charles  T.  Beale.  Thomas  Sweeney ;  North  Carolina,  A.  H.  Arrington, 

A.  McLean  '  South  Carolina,  F.  J.  Moses,  W.  Pinkney  Schingler  ;  Georgia,  Lewis  Tum- 
lin,  William  M.  Lowry  ;  Florida,  George  Scott,  W.  C.  Maloney  ;  Alabama,  Lewis  Owen, 
J.  S.  Kennedy;  Mississippi,  E.   Fegues,  J.  A.  Bingford ;  Louisiana,  A,  M.  Holbrook ; 
Arkansas,  M.  L.  Bell,  Johu  R.  Fellow*;*  ;  Texas,  M.  B.  Ochiltree,  J.  Hancock  ;  Tennes 
see,  W.  B,  Ferguson,  J.  Williams  ;  Kentucky,  M.  J.  Durham,  W.  W.  Baldwin  ;  Ohio,  T. 
E.  Cunningham,  J.  II.  James;  Indiana.  Levi  Sparks,  Moses   Drake:    Illinois,  William 

B.  Ogden,  Isaac  Underlain  ;   Michigan,  G.  C.  Monroe,  William,  b.  McCret'ry  ;  Missouri, 
Thomas  L.  Price,  Charles  M.  Eliiard  ;  Minnesota,   C.   F.   Buck,    CharU*  F.  Gilman ; 
Wisconsin,  J.  B.  Doe,  C.  L.  Sholfes  ;  Iowa,  W.  D.  McHenry,  3.  0.    Butler  ,  Kansas,  T. 
P.  Fitzwilliam,  (>.  A.  Coiton  ;   California,  John  H.  Baird,  Henry  F.  VViJHams  ;  Nevada, 
Frank  Hereford,  L.   H.   Newton ;   District  of  Columbia,  diaries  Knap,  Esau  Pickrell ; 
Dakota,  J.  B.  S.  Todd,  F.  C.  Dewitt ;  Idaho,  C.  F.  Powell.    T.   W.    Betts;  Nebraska, 
James  R.  Former,  P.  B.  Becker;  Washington,  Edward    Lander,  Ehvood  Evans;   Oregon, 
J.  C.  Ainaworlh,  0.  Huuamason. 

The  Secretary  having  read  the  above  list  of  committees — 

Hoo.  JOHK  HoaAW,   of  Missouri,  said;  Mr    President,  this  Convention,  so  glorious  a 


26 

success,  Las  now  accomplished  the  purpose  for  which  H  met,  and  I  move,  yon,  sir,  i» 
view  of  its  harmonious  action,  that  the  Convention  now  adjourn.  [Applause.] 

THE  PRESIDENT.  Before  putting  that  motion,  the  Chair  desires  to  announce  two  or 
three  things  connected  with  what  has  transpired. 

[At  that  point  a  slight  contusion  ensued,  many  members  seeking  to  obtain  a  hear 
ing.] 

THE  PRESIDENT.     Let  the  Convention  be  in  order. 

THANKS   TO   TUB  OFFICERS   OF   TEE   CONVENTION. 

Mr.  ScBFiLL,  of  New  York.  I  move  that  the  thanks  of  this  Convention  he  now 
tendered  the  President  and  the  officers  of  this  Convention,  for  the  able  and  impartial 
manner  in  which  they  have  discharged  their  duties.  This  motion  was  put  by  the 
Secretary  and  carried  unanimously.  [Applause.] 

THANKS   TO   THE   REPRESENTATIVES   OF    THE    PRESS. 

Mr.  HOLMES,  of  New  York.  I  think  it  eminently  due  to  the  representatives  of  the 
press  who  are  present  that  the  thanks  of  this  Convention  should  be  given  them.  A 
remarkable  feature  with  their  report orial  duties  has  been  that  each  of  them,  of  what 
ever  complexion,  whether  for  or  against  us,  has  manfully,  correctly,  and  honestly  per 
formed  his  duty.  [Applause.] 

The  consent  of  the  Convention  was  obtained  to  the  consideration  of  this  motion,  and 
it  was  unanimously  carried. 

PRESENT  FROM  THE  PHILADELPHIA   JOHNSON    CLUB. 

.'"'!.    ,?.  -..r; ^.-.l':V       .     ?>••"'     r'  .C         .T.     *£     '•'     jjjf. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  The  Chair  has  received  from  the  president,  Greo.  Martin,  and  C.  W. 
Alexander,  secretary,  in  behalf  of  the  National  Union  Johnson  Club  of  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  a  gavel  made  of  the  wood  of  the  frigate  Constitution.  [Applause.] 

• :  •  .  ,'  .  •  -T»:  <•;[•-• ."",-" 
HONORARY  MEMBERS  FROM  THE  GERMAN  JOHNSON  CLUB  OF  NEW  YOKK. 

The  CLair  is  also  requested  to  announce,  that  it  may  be  entered  in  the  proceedings, 
ttat  the  chairman  of  the  German  Johnson  Central  Club  of  the  city  of  New  York  has 
presenter]  several  names  as  honorary  members  of  the  Convention,  which  will  also  take 
place  in  the  proceedings  and  be  published. 

MEETING  OF'SOLDIER  AND  SAILOR  DELEGATES. 

I  am  requested  to  announce,  in  behalf  of  certain  gentlemen,  that  there  will  be  a 
number  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  in  attendance  upon  this  Convention,  in  this  place, 
at  eight  o'clock  this  evening.  [Applause.] 

THANKS  TO  THE  CITIZENS  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 

Hon.  0.  II.  BROWNING,  of  Illinois.  Mr.  President,  I  move  you,  sir,  that  the  thanks 
of  this  Convention  be  extended  to  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia  for  their  hospitality  and 
kindness  to  its  ir. embers  during  its  deliberations. 

A  voice,    i%  Good,  I  second  the  motion."     [Applause.] 

A  vote  was  taken  upon  this  motion,  and  it  was  unanimously  carried. 

The  SECKETAHY.  I  am  requested  to  announce  by  the  chairman  of  the  committee  ap 
pointed  to  wait  upon  the  President,  that  the  committee  will  meet  at  parlor  C  at  the  Conti 
nental  Hotel  f.t  3  o'clock  this  afternoon,  and  that  the  National  Executive  Committee 
will  meet  at  loom  No.  17  at  the  Continental  Hotel  shortly  after  the  adjournment. 

Hon.  RKVEf.pY  JOKX.SON,  of  Maryland,  offered  the  following  resolution,  which  was  read 
by  the  Stcrtt^-y  and  unanimously  passed  by  the  Cenventioa. 

PUBLICATION   OF    PROCEEDINGS,  g 

Resclvfu,  Thai  a  correct  copy  of  the  proceedings  of  this  Convention  be  prepared  by 
the  Secretary,  E.  O.  Pen-in,  and  certified  to  by  the  President  of  this  Convention,  for 
publication  by  the  resident  committee  at  Washington  City. 

A  delegate  from  StassachusMtlJ.     I  rise  to  make  an  amendment  to  the  motion  of  ad- 
OBrnxnent.     Jt  i°.  th&t  when  this   Convention   adjourns  it  shall  adjourn  with  three 
cheers  for  the  Constitution  and  the  Union  of  our  fathers,  three  cheers  for  the  President  V 
of  the  United  States,  and  three  cheers  for  this  Convention,  that  signalizes  a  permanent 
»nd  enduring  Union  for  all  time.     [Applause.] 

THE  PRESIDENT.     Before  putting  that  motion  the  Chair  desires  to  announce  that  a  note 


27 

fcas  been  received  from  Hon.  Mr.  Dix,  Major  General,  w'.io  presided  in  the  preliminary 
proceedings  of  this  Convention,  which  will  be  read.  [Enthusiastic  applause.]  The 
Secretary  then  read  the  note,  as  follows  : 

NOT"  FROM  GEVUEAL  DIX. 

WIGWAM,  Augustus,  1866. 
To  /Sam/.  J.  Tilden,  Esq.,  Chairman  of  the  New  York  Delegation  : 

DEAR  Sis  :  I  am  obliged  to  return  to  New  York  this  afternoon  on  urgent  business. 
The  admirable  spirit  of  harmony  and  conciliation  which  pervades  the  Convention  ren 
ders  my  presence  unnecessary,  and  leaves  me  no  other  regret  than  that  of  being  unable 
to  witness  the  close  of  the  proceedings  so  auspiciously  cornicienced  and  aO  full  of  promise 
for  future  good. 

Very  truly  yours, 

J.  A.  DIX. 
[LouJ  cheering  and  applause.] 

THANKS   TO   TH2    COSVSNTIOX    B*   THE    PRESIDENT. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention :  For  the  kindness  and  courtesy  with 
which  you  have  sustained  the  Chair,  and  to  which,  by  your  resolution,  you  have  been 
pleased  to  allude,  I  return  you  my  sincere  thanks.  Before  putting  that  motion,  which 
shati  terminate  the  proceeding  of  this  Convention,  I  shall  ask  you  once  more  to  join 
with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Elliott  in  invoking  the  benedictions  of  Almighty  God,  by  whose 
support  we  are  sure  of  success,  but  without  which  we  shall  inevitably  fail. 

Rev.  Mr.  Elliott  then  advanced  to  the  front  of  the  stago  and  delivered  the  following 
prayer : 

TUG   CLOSING    PRAYEIi. 

0  Thou  Great  Ruler  of  the  Universe  and  Author  of  all  peace,  and  order,  and 
harmony,  and  law  in  earth  and  Heaven,  it  is  meet  and  right  that  we  should  bow  our 
hearts  before  Thee  on  this  deeply  interesting  occasion,  and  offer  thanks  to  Thee,  the 
Great  Preserver  of  men  and  of  nations,  that  we  have  been  permitted  to  meet  together 
after  the  confusion  of  years,  under  such  favorable  auspices,  surrounded  and  protected 
by  that  Providence  and  by  that  disposition  of  order  and  law  that  is  now  about  us.  We 
recognize  Thy  gracious  Providence,  and  offer  thanks  to  Thee,  the  Author  of  all  our 
mercies.  We  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  put  it  into  the  hearts  of  these  Thy  servants 
to  come  together  and  to  organize  themselves  into  harmony  from  the  various  parts  of 
this  Union,  and  once  more  to  take  the  friendly  hand  and  pass  the  friendly  greeting 
with  each  other  in  Thy  presence,  and  to  renew  with  hearty  sincerity  their  friendships 
here  on  earth.  0  Lord  God  of  our  fathers,  who  planted  us,  who  built  us  up,  who  made 
us  great,  and  kept  us  united,  and  by  whosf  graciou?  will  and  providence  we  are  again 
one  people.  %ve  offer  thanks  to  Thee  for  the  harmony  of  thi^  body,  for  the  union  of 
hearts  that  has  been  manifested  throughout  this  Convention;  for  tii^t  conciliation  of 
spirit  that  has  been  seen  in  all  its  members  and  all  its  proceedings.  We  thank  God 
for  the  blessings  that  now  crown  out  nation,  and  especially  for  the  President  of  the 
United  State,-;,  who  is  so  worthy  of  his  situation  and  position.  0  Lord  God  Almighty, 
who  raiseth  and  sustaiiieth  those  that  are  in  authority,  let  Thy  blessings  come  upon 
him,  and  sustain  him  in  Life  difficult  and  arduous  task,  that  he  may  ."irrv  out  to  com 
plete  success  the  plan  by  which  we  may  become  one  united  and  great  oeople  now  and 
perpetually.  May  the  bleeding  or'  God  rest  upon  all  tile  committee*  and  upon  all  the 
resolutioas  and  addresses,  and  upon  all  the  arrangements  by  which  the.-e  Thy  servant^ 
propose  to  carry  out  the  principle?  of  the  Union.  0  Lord  God,  do  Thos  go  with  them 
to  their  several  States  and  dirtfut  them  iu  all  their  tvork.  Be  with  u^  and  remain 
with  us  through  life,  and  when  lift-  i.-  done-,  may  we  n.eet  in  that  place  above? ,  where 
union  is  tlie  law  that  pervades  the  society,  an. I  vrliex'e,  united,  we  sin. VI reign  immortal. 
These,  with  all  oth<  r  brings,  grant  us,  f<  r  the  sake  of  Him  that  lived  and  died  to 
aave  us,  and  to  Father.  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  we  will  ascribe  praise  due  now  and  for 
ever.  And  may  the  blessings  of  Almighty  Gad,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  rest 
upon  tlii.s  Convention,  upon  this  nation,  upon  its  rulers,  now  and  forever.  Amen. 

THE  SscnKTAKY.  I  have  to  announce  to  the  Convention  that,  as  many  of  the  names 
given  to  the  various  committees  have  not  beea  distinctly  heard,  we  will  hold  a  session 
at  roou  44,  at  the  Continental  Hotel,  for  tho  purpose  of  obtaining  all  names  corrected 
upom  the  proper  committees  before  they  receive  the  offical  signature  of  the  President 
of  thJU  Conveutuuu  We  «rill  be  iu  session  all  the  afternoon  and  to-ni<jht  there. 


THE   FINAL  ADJOURN  WEST. 


TEE  PfiEsroENT.  The  motion  is  tliat  this  Convention  do  now  adjourn  without  day, 
Those  in  favor  of  that  motion  say  Aye-  —  unanimous.  Those  opposed  No  —  none.  It  is* 
carried,  and  the  Chair  does  now  pronounce  this  Convention  adjourned  without  day. 

The  wildest  enthusiasm  ensued,  hearty  and  prolonged  cheering  being  given  for  the- 
Union,  for  President  Johnson,  and  for  the  triumphant  eucees  of  the  Convention. 

A  correct  copy  of  abridged  edition. 

J.  R.  DOOLITTLE,  President. 
E.  0.  PERRIX,  Secretary. 


The  Hon.  REVEKDY  JOHNSON.  Chairman  of  the  Committee  appointed  to  wait  on  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  present  him  with  an  authentic  copy  of  the  Proceed 
ings  of  the  National  Union  Convention,  made  the  following  remarks  previous  to  pre 
senting  the  same  : 

SPEECH    OF    THE    HTOX.    REVFRDY    JO-EX  SOX. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  We  are  before  you  as  a  Committee  of  the  National  Union  Conven*- 
tion,  which  met  in  Philadelphia  on  Tuesday,  the  14th  instant,  charged  with  the  duty 
of  presenting  you  with  an  authenticated  copy  of  its  proceedings. 

Before  placing  it  in  your  hands,  will  you  permit  us  to  congratulate  you  that,  in  the 
object  for  which  the  Convention  was  called,  in  the  enthusiasm  with  which  in  every 
State  and  Territory,  the  call  was  responded  to,  in  the  unbroken  harmony  of  its  delib 
erations,  in  the  unanimity  with  which  the  principles  it  has  declared  were  adopted,  and 
more  especially  in  the  patriotic  and  constitutional  character  of  the  principles  them 
selves,  we  are  confident  that  you  and  the  country  will  find  gratifying  and  cheering 
evidence  that  there  exists  among  the  people  a  public  sentiment  which  renders  an  early 
and  complete  restoration  of  the  Union,  as  established  by  the  Constitution,  certain  and 
inevitable. 

Party  faction,  seeking  the  continuance  of  its  misrule,  *iay  momentarily  delay  rt,  but 
the  principles  of  political  liberty,  for  which  our  forefathers  successfully  contended,  and 
to  secure  which  they  adopted  the  Constitution,  are  so  glaringly  inconsistent  with  the 
condition  in  which  the  co.untry  has  been  placed  by  such  misrule,  that  it  will  not  be 
permitted  a  muc-h  longer  duration. 

We  wish,  Mr.  President,  y<u  could  have  personally  witnessed  the  ppirit  of 
cohccrd  and  brotherly  affection  w  -iVh  animated  every  member  of  the  Convention. 
Great  as  your  confidence  ever  has  been  in  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  your  fel 
low-citizens,  in  their  deep  devotion  to  the  Union,  and  in  their  present  determination  to 
reinstate  and  maintain  it,  that  confidence  would  have  become  a  positive  convic 
tion  if  you  could  have  seen  and  heard  all  that  was  done  and  said  upon  the  occasion. 
Every  heart  was  evidently  full  of  joy  ;  every  eye  beamed  with  patriotic  animation. 
Despondency  gave  place  to  assurance  that  our  late  dreadful  civil  strife,  ended,  the  bli&s- 
r'ui  reign  of  peace,  under  the  protection,  not  of.  arms,  but  of  the  Constitution  and  Laws,, 
would  have  sway,  and  be  iu  every  part  of  our  land  cheerfully  acknowledged,  and  ia 
perfect  good  flaith  obeyed,  you  would  not  have  doubted  that  the  recurrence  of  danger 
ous  domestic  insurrection  in  the  future  is  not  to  be  apprehended.  If  you  could  have 
seen,  sir,  the  men  of  Massachusetts  and  South  Carolina  coming  into  the  Convention 
on  the  first  day  of  its  meeting,  hand  in  hand,  amidst  the  rapturous  applause  of  the 
whole  body,  awakened  by  heartfelt  gratification  at  the  event,  filling  the  eyes  of  thou 
sands  with  tears  of  joy,  which  they  neither  could  nor  desired  to  suppress,  you  would 
have  felt  as  every  person  present  felt,  that  the  time  had  arrived  when  all  sectional  or 
other  perilous  dissension  had  ceased,  and  that  nothing  would  be  heard  in  the  future 
but. the  voice  of  harmony,  proclaiming  devotion  to  a  common  country,  pride  in  being 
bound  together  by  a:  common  Union,  established  and  protected  by  forms  of  government 
proved  by  experience  to  be  eminently  fitting  for  the  exigencies  of  either  war  or  peace. 
In  the  principles  announced  by  the  Convention,  and  in  the  feeling  there  manifested,  we 
have  every  assurance  that  harmony  throughout  our  entire  land  will  soon  prevail.  "We 
know  that,  as  in  former  days, as  was  eloquently  said  by  TTe'bsttjr,  the  nation's  most  gifted 
orator  and  statesman,  Massachusetts  and  South  Carolina  went  '•  shoulder  to  shoulder 
through  the  Revolution,"  and  stood  hand  in  hand  ''round  the  Administration  of  Wash 
ington,  and  felt  his  own  great  arm  lean  on  them  for  support, ' '  so  will  they  again,  with  like 


29 

unanimity,  devotion,  and  povc^er,  stand  round  your  Administration,  &nd  cause  you  to  feel 
that  you  may  also  lean  OH  them  for  support.  In  the  proceedings.  Mr.  President,  which 
we  are  to  place  in  your  hands,  yovi  will  tind  that  the  Convention  performed  the  grate 
ful  duty  imposed  upon  them  by  their  knowledge  of  your  "  devotion  to  the  Constitu 
tion,  the  laws,  and  interest  of  your  country,"  as  illustrated  by  your  entire  Presidential 
career,  of  declaring  that  in  you  they  "recognize  a  Chief  Magistrate  worthy  of  the 
•nation,  and  «<jual  to  the  great  crisis  upon  which  your  lot  is  cast."  And  in  this  decla 
ration  it  gives  us  unmixed  pleasure  to  add,  we  are  confident  that  the  Convention  have 
but  spoken  the  intelligent  and  patriotic  opinion  of  the  country.  Ever  inaccessible  to 
the  low  influences  which  often  control  the  mere  partizan,  governed  alone  by  an  hones^ 
opinion  of  Constitutional  obligations  and  rights,  and  of  the  duty  of  looking  solely  to  thP 
true  interest,  safety,  and  honor  of  the  nation,  such  a  class  is  incapable  of  resorting  to 
any  stale  bait  for  popularity  at  the  expense  of  the  public  good. 

In  the  measures  which  you  have  adopted  for  the  restoration  of  the  Union,  the  Con 
vention  saw  only  a  continuance  of  the  policy  which,  for  the  same  purpose,  was  in 
augurated  by  your  immediate  predecessor.  In  his  re-election  by  the  people,  after  that 
policy  had  been  fully  indicated  and  had  been  made  one  of  the  issues  of  the  contest, 
those  of  his  political  friends  who  are  now  assailing  you  for  strictly  pursuing  it  are  for 
getful  or  regardless  of  the  opinions  which  their  support  of  his  re-election  necessarily 
involved.  Being  upon  the  same  ticket  with  that  much-lamented  public-  servant,  whose 
foul  assassination  touched  the  heart  of  the  civilized  world  with  grief  and  horror,  yeu 
would  have  been  false  to  obvious  duty  if  you  had  not  endeavored  to  carry  out  the 
same  policy.  And,  judging  now  by  the  opposite  one  which  Congress  has  pursued,  its 
wisdom  and  patriotism  are  vindicated  by  the  fact  that  that  of  Congress  has  but  continued 
a  broken  Union  by  keeping  ten  of  the  States  in  which  at  one  time  the  insurrection  existed, 
as  far  as  they  could  accomplish  it,  injhe  condition  of  subjugated  provinces,  denying  to 
them  the  right  to  be  represented  wlmst  subjecting  their  people  to  every  species  of  legis 
lation,  including  taxation.  That  such  a  state  of  things  is  at  war  with  the  very  genius  of 
our  Government,  inconsistent  with  every  idea  of  political  freedom,  and  most  perilous  to 
the  peace  and  safety  of  the  country,  no  reflecting  man  can  fail  to  believe.  \Ye  hope, 
sir,  that  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention  will  cause  you  to  adhere,  if  possible,  with 
even  greater  firmness  to  the  cause  which  you  are  pursuing  by  satisfying  you  that  the 
people  are  with  you,  and  that  the  wish  which  lies  nearest  to  their  heart  is  that  a  per 
fect  restoration  of  our  Union  at  the  earliest  moment  be  attained,  and  a  conviction  that 
that  result  can  only  be  accomplished  by  the  measures  which  you  are.  pursuing  ; 
and,  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  which  these  impose  upon  you,  we,  as  did  every 
member  of  the  Convention,  again,  for  ourselves,  individually  tender  "you  "oar  pro 
found  respect  and  assurance  of  our  cordial  and  sincere  support." 

With  a  reunited  Union,  with  no  foot  but  that  of  a  freeman  treading,  or  permitted  to 
tread  our  soil,  with  industry  renewed,  with  a  Nation's  faith  pledged  forever  to  a  strict 
observance  of  all  its  obligations,  with  kindness  and  fraternal  love  everywhere  prevail 
ing,  the  desolations  of  war  will  soon  be  removed,  its  sacrifices  of  life,  sad  as  they  have 
been,  will,  with  a  Christian  resignation,  be  referred  to  a  Providential  purpose  of  fixing 
our  beloved  country  on  a  firm  and  endurable  basis,  which  will  forever  place  cur  liberty 
and  happiness  beyond  the  reach  of  human  peril. 

Then,  too,  and  forever  will  our  Government  challenge  the  admiration  and  receive 
the  respect  of  the  Nations  of  the  World,  and  be  in  no  danger  of  any  effort  to  impair 
our  rights,  or  to  impeach  our  honor ;  and  permit  me,  sir,  in  conclusion,  to  add  that, 
great  as  is  your  solicitude  for  the  restoration  of  our  domestic  peace,  and  engrossing  as 
are  your  labors  to  that  end,  we  rejoice  to  see  that  you  keep  also  a  watchful  eye  uppn 
the  rights  of  the  Nation  ;  and  that,  as  far  as  depends  upon  you,  any  attempt  by  an  as 
sumed  or  actual  foreign  power  to  enforce  an  illegal  blockade  "against  the  Govern 
ment  or  citizen??  of  the  United  States"  (to  use  vour  own  mild  but  expressive  words )• 
"will  be  disallowed." 

In  this  determination  I  am  sure  I  speak  but  the  voice  of  the  Nation  when  J  say  that 
you  will  receive  the  unanimous  approval  of  your  fellow-citizens.  Now,  sir,  a»  the 
Chairman  of  this  Committee,  and  in  behalf  of  the  Convention,  I  have  the  hoaor  to 
present  you  with  an  authenticated  copy  of  its  proceedings. 

The  PRESIDENT  replied  as  follows : 

REPLY    OF    THE    FRESJITXT. 

Mr.  Chapman  <7;,</  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee: 

_  Language  is  inadequate  to  express  the  emotions  and  feelings  produced  by  this-  occa 
sion.  Perhaps  I  could  express  more  by  permitting  silence  to  speak  and  you  to  infer 
what  I  ought  to  'ay.  I  confess  that,  notwithstanding  the  experience  I  have  had  5x& 


30 

•public  life,  ati&tkfc  \audk-.uces  I  have  addressed,  this  occasion  and  this  assemblage  are 
calculated  to,  atrd  d  °>  overwhelm  me.  As  I  have  said,  I  have  not  language  to  convey 
adequately  lay  prase,  '^  feelings  and  emotions. 

In  listening  to  thv  a  ll(iress  which  your  eloquent  and  distinguished  chairman  has  just 
delivered,  the  proce«di.  n£s  of  the  Convention,  as  they  transpired,  recurred  to  ray  mind. 
Seemingly,  I  partook  of  the  inspiration  that  prevailed  in  the  Convention  when  I  re 
ceived  a  despatch,  sent  b.  v  two  ot  its  distinguished  members,  conveying  in  terms  the 
scene  which  lias  just  been  described,  of  South  Carolina  and  Massachusetts,  arm  in  arm, 
marching  into  that  vast  ass  W&&g«S  and  thus  giving  evidence  that  the  two  extremes 
had  come  together  again,  anv  \that  for  the  future  they  were  united,  as  they  had  been 
'a  the  past,  for  the  preservat  :°n  of  tne  Union.  When  I  was  thus  informed  that  in 
hat  vast  body  of  men,  disti  iguished  for  intellect  and  wisdom,  every  eye  was  suf 
fused  with  tears  on  beholding-  th«  scene,  I  could  not  finish  reading  the  despatch  to 
ne  associated  with  me  in  the  ol  'ce?  *or  m7  own  feelings  overcame  me.  [Applause.] 

think  we  may  justly  conclude  t»  ^at  wte  ar<*  acting  under  a  proper  inspiration,  and 
Vat  we  need  not  be  mistaken  thai    tue  finger  of  an  overruling  and  unerring  Providence* 

in  this  great  movement. 

The  nation  is  in  peril.  We  have-jnn  3t  P^sed  through  a  mighty,  a  bloody,  a  momeiit- 
as  ordeal,  and  yet  do  not  find  ourse-1  ves  free  from  the  difficulties  and  dangers  that  at 
tst  surrounded  us.  While  our  b-n$%7e  soldiers,  both  officers  and  men,  [turning  to 
Grenernl  Grant,  who  stood  on  the  right,.  ]|  have  by  their  heroism  won  laurels  imperisha 
ble,  there  are  still  greater  and  more  inapv  >rta»t  duties  to  perform  ;  and  while  we  have 
3iad  their  cooperation  in  the  field,  now  t.k»v  *•  they  have  returned  to  civil  pursuits,  we 
need  their  support  in  our  efforts  to-  restov  "e  the  Government  and  perpetuate  peace. 
{Applause.]  So  far  as  the  Executive  Depart,  went  of  the  Government  is  concerned,  the 
effort  has  been  made  to  restore  the  Union,  t*.1  heal  the  breach,  to  pour  oil  into  the 
wounds  which  were  consequent  upon  the  strangle,  and  ("to  speak  in  common  phrase ) 
to  prepare,  as  the  learned  and  wise  pliy.s-ician  would  a  plaster,  healing  in  character 
and  coextensive  with  the  wound.  [  Applause.  J  We  thought,  and  wo  think,  that  wt» 
had  partially  succeeded :  but  as  the  work  progresses,  a»  reconciliation  seemed  to  bo 
taking  place,  and  the  country  was  becoming  reunited,  we  found  a  disturbing  and  mar 
ring  element  opposing  ua.  In  alluding  to  that  element,  I  shall  go  no  further  than 
your  Convention  and  the  distinguished  gentleman  who  ha?  delivered  to  me  the  report 
of  its  proceedings.  I  shall  make  no  reference  to  it  that  I  <lo  not  believe  the  time  and 
the  occasion  justify. 

We  have  witnessed  in  one  department  of  the  Government  every  endeavor  to-  prevent 
4he  restoration  of  peace,  harmony,  and  Union.  We  have  seea  hanging  upon  the  verge 
^of  the  Government,  as  it  were,  a  body  called,  or  which  assumes  to  be,  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  while  in  fact  it  is  a  Congress  of  only  a  part  of  the  States.  We  have 
seen  this  Congress  pretend  to  be  for  the  Union,  when  its  every  step  and  act  tended  to 
perpetuate  disunion  and  make  a  disruption  of  the  States  inevitable.  Instead  of  pro 
moting  reconciliation  and  harmony,  its  legislation  has  partaken  of  the  character  of 
penalties,  retaliation,  and  revenge.  This  has  been  the  course  and  policy  of  one  portion 
of  your  Government. 

The  humble  individual  who  is  now  addressing  you  stands  the  representative  of 
another  department  of  the  Government.  The  manner  in  which  he  was  called  upon  to 
occupy  that  position  I  shall  not  allude  to  on  this  occasion.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  he  is 
here  under  the  Constitution  of  the  country,  and  being  here  by  virtue  of  its  provisions, 
he  takes  his  stand  upon  that  charter  of  our  liberties  as  the  great  rampart  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty.  [Prolonged cheering.]  Having  been  taught  in  my  early  life  to  hold 
it  sacred,  and  having  done  so  during  my  whole  public  career,  I  shall  ever  continue 
to  reverence  the  Constitution  of  my  fathers,  and  to  make  it  my  guide.  [Hearty 
applause.  ] 

I  know  it  has  been  said  Cand  I  must  be  permitted  to  indulge  in  the  remark)  that 
the  Executive  Department  of  the  Government  lias  been  despotic  and  tyrannical.  Let 
me  ask  this  audience  of  distinguished  gentlemen  to  point  to  a  vote  I  ever  gave,  to  a 
speech  I  ever  made,  to  a  single  act  of  my  whole  public  life  that  has  not  been  against 
tyranny  and  despotism.  \Vhat  position  have  I  ever  occupied — what  ground  have  I 
ever  assumed  where  it  can  by  truthfully  charged  that  I  tailed  to  advocate  the  ameliora 
tion  and  elevation  of  the  great  masses  of  my  countrymen?  [Cries-  of  "  Never,"  and 
great  applause.] 

So  far  as  charges  of  this  kind  are  concerned,  they  are  simply  intended  to  delude  the  pub 
lic  mind  into  the  belief  that  it  is  not  the  designing  men  who  make  such  accusations,  bat 
some-one  else  in  power  who  is  usurping  and  trampling  upon  the  rights  and  perverting 
the  principles  of  the  Constitution.  It  is  done  by  them  for  the  purpose  of  covering  thei 
ewu  acts,  ["  That's  so>"  ao.d  applause  ;]  and  I  bare  felt  it  my  duty,  in  ymdicatiy: 


)!I 

fcicm 


31 

of  principle  to  call  the  attention  of  my  countrymen  io  ILeir  proceeding?.  Wlien  we 
ooiue  to  exainine  who  has  been  playing  the  part  ol  the  tyrant,  by  whom  do  we  find 
despotism  exercised?  As  to  myself,  the  elements  of  my  nature,  the  pursuits  of  my 
life  have  not  made  me  either  in  my  feelings  or  in  my  practice  aggressive.  My  nature, 
011  the  contrary,  is  rather  defensive  in  its  character  ;  but  having  taken  my  stand  upon  the 
broad  principles  of  liberty  and  the  Constitution,  there  is  not  power  enough  on.  earth  to 
drive  me  from  it.  [Loud*  and  prolonged  applatve.]  Having  placed  myself  upon  that 
broad  platform,  1  have  not  been  awed  or  dismayed  or  intimidated  by  either  threats  or 
encroachments^  but  have  stood  there  in  conjunction  with  patriotic  spirits,  sounding  the 
toc?in  of  alarm  when  I  deemed  the  citadel  of  liberty  in  danger.  [Great  applause.] 

I  said  on  a  previous  occasion,  and  repeat  now,  that  all  that  was  necessary  in  this 
great  contest  against  tyranny  and  despotism  was  that  the  struggle  should  be  sufficiently 
audible  for  the  American  people  to  hear  and  properly  understand  the  issues  it  involved. 
They  did  hear,  and  looking  on  and  seeing  who  the  contestants  were,  and  what  the 
struggle  was  about,  determined  that  they  would  settle  this  question  on  the  side  of  the 
Constitution  and  of  principle.  [Cries  of  "That's  so,"  and  .applause.]  I  proclaim 
here  to-day,  as  I  have  on  previous  occasions,  that  my  faith. is  in  the  great  mass  of  the 
people.  In  the  darkest  moment  of  this  struggle,  when  the  clouds  seemed  to  be  west 
lowering,  my  faith,  instead  of  giving  way,  loomed  up  through  their  gloom  ;  for,  beyond, 
I  saw  that  all  would  be  well  in  the  end.  My  countrymen,  we  all  know  that,  in  the 
language  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  tyranny  and  despotism  can  be  exercised  and  exerted 
ni'Sre  effectually  by  the  many  than  the  one.  We  have  seen  Congress  gradually  en- 
eroach  step  by  step  upon  constitution?.!  rights,  and  violate,  day  after  day  and  month 
after  month,  fundamental  principles  of  the  Government.  [Cries  of  4i  That's  so,"  and 
applause.]  We  hare  seen  a  Congiess  that  seemed  to  forget  that  there  was  a  limit  to 
the  sphere  and  scope  of  legislation.  We  have  seen  a  Congress  in  a  minority  assume  to 
exercise  power  which,  if  allowed  to  be  consummated,  would  result  in  despotism  or 
monarchy  itself.  [Enthusiastic  applause.]  This  is  truth,  and  because  others,  as  well 
as  myself,  have  seen  proper  to  appeal  to  the  patriotism  and  republican  feeling  of  the 
country,  we  have  been  denounced  in"  the  severest  terms,  blander  upon  slander,, 
vituperation  upon  vituperation  of  the  rnobt  virulent  character,  has  made  its  way 
through  the  press.  "What,  gentlemen,  has  been  your  and  my  sin?  What  has  been 
the  cause  of  our  offending  ?  I  will  tell  you  :  Daring  to  stand  by  the  Constitution  of 
our  fathers. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  consider  the  proceedings  of  this  Convention  equal  to,  if  not  more 
important  than  those  o^  any  convention  that  ever  assembled  in  the  United  States. 
[Great  applause.]  When  I  look  upon  that  collection  of  citizens  corning  together  vol 
untarily,  and  sitting  in  council  with  ideas,  with  principles  and  views  commensurate 
with  all  the  States,  and  co-extensive  with  the  whole  people,  and  contrast  it  with  a  Con 
gress  whose  policy,  if  persisted  in,  will  destroy  the  country,  I  regard  it  as  more  im 
portant  than  any  Convention  that  has  sat — at  least  since  17S7.  [.Renewed  applause.] 
I  think  I  may  also  say  that  the  declarations  that  wore  there  made  are  equal  to  those 
contained  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  itself,  and  I  here  to-d-ay  pronounce  them- 
a  second  Declaration  cf  independence.  [Cries  of  "  Glorious,"  and  most  enthusiastic 
and  prolonged  applause.]  Your  address  and  declarations  are  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  a  reaffirination  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  [Cries  of  "  Good,"  and 
applause.] 

Yes,  I  will  go  farther,  and  Ray  that  the  declarations  you  have  made,  that  the  princi 
ples  you  have  enunciated  in  your  address,  are  a  second  proclamation  of  emancipation 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States.     [Renewed  applause.]    For,  in  proclaiming  and  re- 
proclairniiig  these  great  truths,  you  have  laid  down  a  constitutional  platform  on  which. 
till,  without  reference  to  party,  can  make  common  cause,  engage  in  a  common  effort  to* 
broak  the  tyranny  which  the  dominant  party  in  Congress  has  so  relentmgly  exercised, 
and  stand  united  together  for  the  restoration  of  the  States  and  the  preservation  of  tee 
Government.     The  question  only  is  the  salvation  of  the  country;  for  our  country  rises 
above  all  party  consideration  or  influences.     [Cries  of  "Good,"  and  applause.]     How 
many  are  there  in  the  United   States  that  now  require  to  be  free  ?     They  have  the 
shackles  npon  their  limbs  and  are  bound  as  rigidly  by  the  behests  of  party  leaders  in 
the  National  Congress  as  though  they  were  in  fact  in  slavery.     1  repeat,  then,  that 
your  declaration  is  the  second  proclamation  of  emancipation  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  and  offers  a  common  ground  upon  which  all  patriots  can  stand.     [Applause.] 
In  this  connexion,  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  let  me  ask  what  have  I  to  gain 
more  than  the  advancement  of  the  public  welfare  ?    I  aui  as  mach  opposed  to  the 
indulgence  of  egotism  as  any  one ;  bat  here,   in  a  conversational  manner,  while  for 
mally  receiving  the  proceedings  of  this  Convention,  I  may  be  permitted  again  to  inquire 
what  1  have  gained,  except  one  thing— the  consummation  of  the  great  work  ot 


82 

ration  ?  My  race  is  nearly  ma.  I  have  been  placed  in  the  high  office  which  I  occupy 
•by  the  Constitution  of  the  country,  and  I  may  &  ay  "that  I  have  held,  from  lowest  to 
highest,  almost  every  station  to  which  a  man  may  attain  in  our  Government.  I  have 
passed  through  every  position,  from  Alderman  of  a  village  to  the  Presidency  of  the 
United  States.  And  surely,  gentlemen,  this  should  be  enough  to  gratify  a  reasonable 
ambition. 

If  I  had  wanted  authority,  or  if  I  had  wished  to  perpetuate  my  own  power,  how 
easily  could  I  have  held  and  wielded  that  which  was  placed  in  my  hands  by  the  measure 
called  the  Freednien's  Bureau  Bill !  [Laughter  and  applause.]  With  an  army  which 
it  plaoed  at  my  discretion  I  could  have  remained  at  the  Capital  of  the  Nation,  and  with 
fifty  or  sixty  millions  of  appropriations  at  my  disposal,  with  the  machinery  to  be 
unlocked  by  my  own  hands,  with  my  satraps  and  dependents  in  every  town  and  village, 
with  the  Civil  Rights  Bill  following  as  an  auxiliary,  [laughter,]  and  with  the  patron 
age  and  other  appliances  of  the  Government,  I  could  have  proclaimed  myself  Dictator. 
["  That's  true  !"  and  applause.] 

But,  gentlemen,  my  pride  and  my  ambition  have  been  to  occupy  that  position  which 
retains  all  power  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  [Great  cheering.]  It  is  upon  them  I 
have  always  relied  :  it  is  upon  them  I  rely  now.  [A  voice  :  "And  the  people  will  not 
disappoint  you.'- ]  And  I  repeat,  that  neither  the  taunts  nor  jeers  of  Congress,  nor  of 
a  subsidized,  calumniating  press,  can  drive  n,e  from  my  purpose.  [Great  applause.] 
I  acknowledge  no  superior  except  my  God,  the  author  of  my  existence,  and  the  peopte 
of  the  United  States.  [Prolonged  and  enthusiastic  cheering.]  The  commands  of  the 
one  I  try  to  obey  as  best  I  can,  compatible  with  poor  humanity.  As  to  the  other,  in  a 
political  and  representative  sense,  the  high  behests  of  the  people  have  always  been, 
and  ever  will  be,  respected  and  obeyed  by  me.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  said  more  than  I  intended  to  say.  For  the  kind  allusion  to 
myself,  contained  in  your  address,  I  thank  you.  In  this  crisis,  and  at  the  present 
period  of  my  public  life.  I  hold  above  all  price,  and  shall  ever  recur  with  feelings  of 
profound  gratification,  to  the  resolution  containing  the  endorsement  of  a  convention 
emanating  spontaneously  from  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  With  conscientious  con 
viction  as  my  courage,  the  Constitution  as  iny  guide,  and  my  faith  in  the  people,  I 
trust  and  hope  that  my  future  action  may  be  such  that  you  and  the  Convention  you 
represent  may  not  regret  the  assurance  of  confidence  you  have  so  generously  ex 
pressed.  [ ' '  We  are  sure  of  it. "  ] 

Before  separating,  my  friends,  one  and  all,  please  accept  my  heartfelt  thanks  for 
the  kind  manifestations  of  regard  and  respect  you  have  exhibited  on  this  occasion. 


NATIONAL  UNION  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE,  August  22,  1866. 

The  Chairmain  of  the  National  Union  Executive  Committee,  in  conformity  with  a 
resolution  adopted  at  a  meeting  of  the  Committee,  held  at  Philadelphia,  August  16, 
1866,  appoints  the  following  members  of  the  Committee  to  constitute  a  Sub-Coaimittee, 
with  power  to  act  in  matters  relating  to  the  pending  campaign : 
COL.  JAMES  P.  BABCOCK,  New  Haven,  Conn. 
Hox.  ROBERT  H.  PRCYN,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
GEN.  SAMUEL  M.  ZULTCK,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
HON.  THOS.  G.  PRATT.  Baltimore,  Md. 
HON.  JESSF.  0.  NORTON,  Chicago,  111. 
BARTON  ABi.K,  Esq.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
HON.  WM.  L.  SHARKEY,  Jackson,  Mia?-. 

JOSEPH  T.  CROWELL, 
Chairman  National  Union  Executive 
RAH  WAY,  N.  J. 


NOTE.— On  account  of  the  urgent  demand  for  the  Proceedings  of  the  Convention,  an 
abridged  edition  can  only  be  published  at  this  time. 

The  full  Proceedings,  containing  a  list  of  Delegates,  with^  letters  of  Hon.  Robert  C. 
Winthrop,  Thomas  Ewing,  William  C.  Rives,  and  others,  will  be  issued  in  pamphlet^ 

form  at  as  early  a  date  as  practicable. 

E.  0.  PERBIN, 
St&retary  Naticnal  Union  Convention, 


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